The Missing Loud
by Your Saving Grace is Here
Summary: After being bullied at school, potentially losing her crush to another girl, and her family seemingly fed up with her, Luan Loud figures there's no place for her in a world where she doesn't belong. When the Loud family discovers she's missing, will they assume the worst, or assume she's setting them up for another prank? Rated T: some story elements may be uncomfortable.
1. The Butt of the Joke

It was another typically loud day in the Loud House, as the children returned home from their respective schools and other extra-curricular activities, and proceeded to engage in the kinds of pastimes that they typically would do. After having another particularly rough day at her high school, the resident comedienne, Luan, was longing for some much-needed comic relief to brighten up the rest of her evening, and began observing what her siblings were doing, waiting for the right opportunity to crack a joke at their expense. Hearing a scuffle coming from the twins' room, she peered inside to find Lana and Lola brawling with one another again, after Lola exploded at Lana for ruining her new makeup.

"Now, now, you two," said Luan. "You shouldn't be fighting. Why don't the two of you MAKE-UP? Hahahaha! Get it?"

The twins moaned. "Buzz off, dirtbag!" Lola yelled, as she and Lana proceeded to throw things at her while she merrily skipped back into the hallway, nearly bumping into Leni, who was about to meet up with Chaz.

"Lookin' good, Leni!" Luan remarked at how her fashionista sister had dolled herself up.

"Thank you, Luan!" Leni replied.

Luan gasped in horror, "Leni, what's that?"

Leni began shrieking, "What? What is it? Get it off! Get it off!"

As Leni twitched and flailed about, Luan flew into a fit of laughter.

"What's so funny?" Leni asked.

"Works everytime!" Luan said.

"What works...?" Leni began, before realizing Luan tricked her. "That's not funny, Luan! That's not funny!"

Luan's laughter died down, before she placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "You're right, Leni, it's not... but there IS a little spot right there on your dress."

"Where?" Leni asked, looking down, allowing Luan to flick her nose, and laugh all over again. "Ouchy! Not funny!"

Leni went about her way, while Luan continued to laugh; Leni was always such an easy target for her. Lori had been watching this from the bedroom she and Leni share, and was even less unamused. "What has gotten into you lately?" She asked.

"Beats me, but do you think we'll be able to get it back out?" Luan asked, before laughing even more.

Lori, however, just scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Honestly, Luan, it's like you've been cranking your whole act up to 11 lately, it's literally getting old and tired."

"I guess I'll just have to trade it in for a younger model then, won't I?" Luan's laughing continued.

Lori could see she was getting nowhere with her younger sister, as she rolled her eyes once again, and slipped back into her room to text Bobby, "I give up."

Luan's laugh finally died down. Lori was right, though; she had been ramping up her comedic behavior as of late, but Luan felt like she was needing a little extra dose of humor in her life right now. She retreated across the hall into the bedroom she shares with her rockstar sister, Luna; the older of the two was chilling out on her beanbag chair, preoccupied with sorting through the tracks on her iPod.

"Hey there, Luni-Tune! Gettin' jiggy with it?" Luan asked, as she flopped over ontop of the bottom bunk of their bed.

"Naw, dude, I'm just goin' through my jams to see which tracks I wanna hang on to, and which ones I can live without..." said Luna.

Luna came upon the next track in her playlist; Daniel Powter's one-hit wonder:

_Where is the moment when we needed the most?_  
_You kick up the leaves, and the magic is lost_  
_They tell me your blue sky's faded to gray_  
_They tell me your passion's gone away_  
_And I don't need no carrying on_

_Stand in the line just to hit a new low_  
_You're faking a smile with the coffee to go_  
_You tell me your life's been way off line_  
_You're falling to pieces every time_  
_And I don't need no carrying on_

_'Cause you had a bad day_  
_You're taking one down_  
_You sing a sad song just to turn it around_  
_You say you don't know_  
_You tell me don't lie_  
_You work at a smile, and you go for a ride_

_You had a bad day_  
_The camera don't lie_  
_You're coming back down, and you really don't mind_

_You had a bad day_

_You had a bad day_

Luna decided to delete the track, "I don't even know why I still have this tune, it's really overrated."

Luan did not respond, but she absorbed the lyrics as she laid atop her bottom bunk. She had heard the song numerous times, whether on the radio, or used in movies; she was very familiar with the tune and the melody, but she never really paid that much attention to the lyrics. They seemed to really resonate with her this time around, almost making it feel like she was in a scene from a movie of her own.

She was a generally good student, but ever since she began attending Royal Woods High, she clearly did not have an easy time adjusting. Having seen many coming of age stories depicted in movies, she was well aware that most high school girls form their own cliques, and certain cliques of popular girls tend to be very condescending to other girls they perceive to be outcasts. She had a good idea that she would probably never fit in with any of the cliques of popular girls in high school, barely fitting in with hardly any other girls in middle school, but being their target made it that much more difficult for her just to get through one school day after another. Being both socially and physically awkward was bad enough; her obsession with any and everything humorous and comical was seen as immature and childish amongst her peers, which made her an even bigger target for bullies. In elementary school -and, to a lesser extent, middle school- she was practically a celebrity... in high school, not so much. She was accustomed to her family's jeers at her jokes at home, but at school it was worse, because not only would her peers jeer at her, they would also physically assault her: tripping her in the hallways, jabbing their pencils into her back, pulling on her ponytail, shoving her into lockers, among other forms of torment. In the beginning, true to her form, she would try to laugh such encounters off, and joke about them. "Just thought I'd DROP IN," she said when tripped on one occasion. "Talk about HOLDING YOUR HORSES," she said when her ponytail was yanked on one occasion. "Ow! I GET THE POINT, already," she said when jabbed in the back on one occasion. The reactions to her jokes were always mixed in a negative way: some of her more slow-witted peers were not quick to pick up on her quips, and were often left confused and dumbfounded. Others, however, picked up quick enough her attempts to lighten the mood with her humor, and would respond by heckling her, which only made her feel worse. "Oh, what a knee-slapper!", "Oh, a comedian, huh? That's funny... **NOT**!", "Was that seriously an attempt at a comeback? COMEBACK when you've got something good!" "You think you're funny? You haven't got a FUNNY BONE in your body!" were just some of the few heckles thrown her way whenever she tried to use her humor to diffuse such situations. It felt like she was being beaten at her own game. Of course, no one in her family ever suspected a thing. At home, they just saw Luan being Luan: the Hurricane of Puns, the Pungeon Master, the Clown Extraordinaire, the family comedienne - all the while they would always groan and roll their eyes at her jokes. In spite of that, coming home was Luan's sanctuary. Curling up on her bed and reading through any one of her numerous volumes of joke books, or playing with Mr. Coconuts, while Luna crashes away on her drums, or goes to town on her guitars was almost like an ASMR existence for her. Totally opposite of her experiences in high school.

* * *

The following morning, Lori had dropped herself, Leni, Luna, and Luan off for school, and as each of the sisters parted ways for their respective classes, Luan entered the building with an ever-increasing amount of reservation each and every day, because she never knew what kind of day awaited her. The torment and bullying she received differed day by day, which always kept her on edge. Some days, they were relentless, and she would basically race through the halls inbetween classes to avoid as much of it as possible; other days, they may not have been in the mood, and would basically just let her slide without much contact. Those such days she was able to tolerate a little more than the former, and sometimes it allowed her to let her guard down. So far, this appeared to be one of those days. She peered around the corner into the corridor, seeing no sign of her usual bullies anywhere - that was a good sign; that was a relief. She sprinted down the corridor to her locker to put away her backpack, while also grabbing her text books and note books for her classes, when she heard a peculiar pinging sound coming from below. Looking down, she found what appeared to be some kind of marble that had rolled between her feet, little knowing that hiding out of her sight was her bullies - one of whom had rolled the marble from across the hall inbetween her feet as a distraction. With her guard down, and completely oblivious to anything else, her curiosity got the better of her, and when she bent over to pick up this object, that was when the attack unfolded. Her bullies sprang from their hiding spot; two of them ambushed her, pulling up her skirt, revealing the underwear she had on that featured a print design of clowns holding bunches of balloons. They held her upper body down forcefully, preventing her from standing up, while her third bully whipped out a phone to snap a picture. The hallway was filled with laughter at the sight of a high school student wearing such goofy printed underwear. The bullies gave everyone the slip and fled the scene, but the damage had already been done. The hallway was still echoing with laughter, as a red-faced Luan finally stood up straight, lowering her skirt back down to her knees. Although quick-witted herself, letting her guard down left her completely vulnerable, and she was totally blindsided by this; there was no way she could figure out how recover from this stunt.

"Hey!" She called out to those in the hall, "Um, I... wear underwear... get it?"

The laughing continued, but it wasn't the joke... they were still laughing at what a fool she had been made of, and she just made it worse for herself with her feeble attempt to make light of the situation by cracking a joke at her own expense. Luan slammed her locker shut, clutching her books tightly as she stormed down the hall, her face turning redder with every passing second, while other students continued to point and laugh at her, with some throwing out lewd cat calls at her in regards to her butt. Throughout the noise of laughter and cat-calling in the hall, Luan could suddenly hear that song in the back of her mind all over again:

_'Cause you had a bad day_  
_You're taking one down_  
_You sing a sad song just to turn it around_  
_You say you don't know_  
_You tell me don't lie_  
_You work at a smile, and you go for a ride_

_You had a bad day_  
_The camera don't lie_  
_You're coming back down, and you really don't mind_

_You had a bad day_

_You had a bad day_

A bad day could not even begin to describe it accurately enough. This was shaping up to be one of the worst days of Luan's life; she knew that she would not hear the end of this for the longest time. At least there was one solace for her at the end of the school day: rehearsing for the next school play in drama class, which meant getting to spend some time with her crush, Benny - perhaps the only other person at Royal Woods High who understands her.


	2. Love Lost

**Author's note: It has been brought to my attention by a number of guest reviewers that this story appears to be incredibly similar to another already-existing fanfiction story titled **_**Tears of a Clown**_**.**

**This is my first attempt at **_**Loud House**_** fanfiction, but I have not really read any other stories before I started (at 5.7K stories, where does one start). So I would like to stress that this is purely coincidental. After taking a look at it for myself, I do see the concern over the two stories, as the set-up for both actually are very, very similar (particularly in the first two chapters): this took me by surprise as well. However, I would also like to assure those who are interested that in spite of this coincidence, this story will be going into a much different direction, so hopefully the similarities will end there.**

**I would still like to extend an apology to author AlexGen, as well as other readers in this fanfiction community for their concerns over possible plagiarism: it was totally unintentional.**

* * *

After spending time with her students on Royal Woods High's production of _Romeo & Juliet_, as well as other extra-curricular activities, Mrs. Bernardo was able to study their individual strengths and weaknesses, and took to writing an original new script for their next school play that would utilize each of the students to their full potential - a period piece of a kingdom in turmoil, while the king and queen do not see eye-to-eye on how to deal with their unhappy subjects. After things eventually went well enough with _Romeo & Juliet_, Luan hoped she and Benny would be cast as the leads again. Benny was, indeed, cast as the king in Mrs. Bernardo's new play; however, she had conceived a role tailor-suited for Luan's unique talent: the kingdom's court jester. Luan had mixed feelings about her role: part of her felt a small sense of pride that Mrs. Bernardo practically created a character just for her, but another part felt disappointed this meant she would not be acting opposite Benny again.

The part of the queen, instead, went to a relatively newer student who had recently enrolled in drama class, named Juney. One look at her, and anybody would have thought she came from a Disney Channel or Nickelodeon series: shoulder-length blonde hair, emerald green eyes, peaches-and-cream complexion, chic clothing, and a well-proportioned body structure for a blossoming teenager; it was incredibly difficult for many boys -and even some girls- to not stare at Juney, as she was a piece of eye candy. With her ridiculous good looks, doubled with her abilities to act up a storm and tap into any emotion, it made her a clear choice for Mrs. Bernardo to cast as the queen.

As the afternoon grew on, the students were rehearsing one of the key scenes in the story, in which the king and queen are debating on how to handle an impending uprising from their subjects. Since the play was just in the beginning stages, no actual scenics, props, or wardrobe were available at the present time; Benny and Juney paced about the empty stage, each wearing plastic crowns on their heads, as their characters considered their plight.

"My lord," said Queen Juney. "The people are sure to revolt if we do not do something."

"I am aware of this, my lady," said King Benny, in an irritated state. "If the royal treasury did not require replenishing, we would not have to resort to raising their taxes."

"And I still say raising their taxes was not thy wisest decision," said Queen Juney, adding a stuffiness to her voice.

"Had it not been for doing such, the kingdom would surely have run dry," said King Benny.

"For what doth possess thy lord to take such risky measures?" Queen Juney asked.

"Time is not on our side, we must remedy thusly..." King Benny brought his hand to his lips, and called out into the empty stage, "Summon my fool!"

"The fool?" Queen Juney asked, sounding aghast.

Another drama student entered the stage; arms locked with Luan, wearing a felt jester's hat, "Presenting your fool, your highness."

"Very good, servant," said King Benny, dismissing the servant.

"At your service, your majesty," greeted Luan the Fool. "Dost thou wish for a moment of entertainment?"

"Indeed, fool," said King Benny. "But, not for myself, nor my lady. I wish thee to go out into the village, and entertain the people of our kingdom, for they grow restless, and something must be done in order to lift their spirits."

"My duty and my pleasure, I shall carry out thy decree, your majesty!" With that, Luan the Fool bowed to King Benny, and exited the stage.

Queen Juney was nearly livid, "Alas, my poor husband, thou must surely be addle-headed! The people are ready to revolt against our kingdom, and thou send them a fool?"

King Benny was quick to defend his latest decree, "My lady, we must provide a welcome distraction to lift and increase the morale of the people, and thus allow the kingdom more time to procure a suitable solution to our plight."

The king and queen began hearing a crowd of boos, hisses, and jeers. They step over to a tape mark on the stage floor where there otherwise would be a fake castle wall with a window peering out into the village, as they witness other drama students playing the townspeople pelting Luan the Fool with rubber tomatoes, while chasing her away.

The queen glances at her husband with sheer annoyance in her eyes, "Methinks thy distraction had not the desired welcoming effect thou hath anticipated."

King Benny sighed, and resigned to his wife's nagging, "I suppose thou is right, we will have to find some other distraction to allow us more time... but what?"

* * *

After the day's rehearsal was complete, the students began the process of cleaning up the stage. Luan went around collecting the various different hats and other headpieces the students were wearing for their parts.

"I must say, thou projected a very rrrrrrrrrrrregal bearing, your majesty!" Luan told Benny, while playfully adding a posh, upper-crust accent to her voice.

"Perhaps the fool needs to work on thy material before attempting to entertain the villagers again!" Benny kidded back, handing Luan his crown.

As Luan moved on to collect other hats, Juney approached Benny to offer up her praise on his fine work, "You're incredibly talented, Benny," she said. "It's so refreshing to meet a boy who actually has an appreciation for the performing arts."

Benny could not help but blush a little at the compliment he received, "Thanks, Juney... It always has been a passion of mine."

Juney nodded, understandingly, "I can really tell. The way you project yourself, the way you emote, you breathe so much feeling and life into your performance; you make it seem so effortless."

Benny's cheeks continued to tinge with redness, "I don't know about that, but you really do make your performances seem effortless. The way you can really tap into a character like flipping a switch really blows me away."

"Thanks," said Juney.

Luan began sensing an uneasy feeling in her stomach at witnessing Benny and Juney's conversation... in fact, she could barely stomach it at all, so she finished gathering up everybody's hats to take them into the small storage room across the other side of the stage. In doing so, she missed out on a crucial point in their conversation:

"You know, Benny, my dad works for a local advertising agency that produces and distributes a lot of TV commercials for their clients, and they're always looking for fresh, young talent," began Juney. "You should consider looking into it; they could really use someone like you!"

Benny was quite taken aback by Juney's offer, "Oh, gosh, I'm not sure if I'm cut out for that, Juney."

"It's really not that big of a deal," said Juney. "I've done a few of their commercials, and its often just working as an extra, but I'm sure they'd love to work with someone with your talent! Who knows where this might lead to?"

"I don't know..." said Benny, with uncertainty.

"I think you should really consider it," said Juney. "If you'd like, we could get together sometime and talk about it a little more..."

Luan had put away the hats, grabbed and put on her backpack, and decided to interject the conversation to see if Benny would like Lori to give him a ride home in Vanzilla... not that Lori would be happy about being a chauffeur for yet another one of her younger sisters' friends. Luan's poor timing resulted in her witnessing a point in the conversation she would rather not have:

"So, what do you say, Benny?" Juney asked, taking Benny's hands into her own; Luan could almost detect a twinkle in her eye. "Why don't we get together sometime?"

Unable to see Benny's face from her angle, Luan knew not of the uncertainty that was written across his face; his voice, however, did not convey that same uncertainty: "Yeah, sure, I guess we could do that."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Juney said, her voice lilting higher.

Luan could just feel her heart shatter into a million tiny little bees stinging the inside of her chest, as well as the warm sting of tears building up in her ducts, jumping to the conclusion that new girl Juney had stolen her crush away from her. Going un-noticed, Luan quickly turned tail and ran out, once again missing witnessing another crucial point in the conversation:

"You know, if your dad's agency is really looking for fresh, young talent, maybe they should see Luan. I know she'd love to try out." Benny offered.

Juney stifled a guffaw at Benny's suggestion, "Luan? That clown?"

Benny's face soured, "She happens to be a really, really good friend of mine."

Juney's repressed snickering quickly subsided, "Oh. I'm sorry, Benny."

"Yeah," said Benny, almost defensively. "I... kinda... fancy her..."

Juney looked a little surprised, and a little red-faced, "I wasn't aware. I mean no offense, but I don't know if she would be the kind of talent they'd be looking for."

Benny shrugged, "I know she comes off as a clown a lot of the time, and her sense of humor isn't for everybody, but when you really get to know her, you realize how incredibly talented she really is as well, especially when it comes to performance art! If extras are what you're looking for, she's really excellent at body-acting and pantomiming!"

"Well, if you think she might also be interested, she could get together with us, and we all could talk it over," offered Juney.

Benny turned around to see if Luan was still in the building, but saw no sign of her, "I guess she left already. Maybe I'll text her tonight and ask."

Luan was unusually quiet during the ride home, much to Lori's relief; she had a frustrating day (doubling back to pick up her younger sister who still is too young to drive only added to her irritation) and was in no mood for Luan's endless barrage of bad puns and annoying laughter. Even at the Loud House that evening, dinner carried on as noisily as always, and with the other family members wrapped up in their own conversations and eating, nobody took notice that Luan merely sat at the table picking at her food... after the rotten day she had, she had no appetite to speak of. Even when dinner was over, her parents noticed she still had quite a bit of food left on her plate, and also passed on dessert; she lied about indulging on a lot of refreshments during rehearsal, thus spoiling her appetite.

* * *

The rest of the family went off to engage in their own activities, but all Luan could think about was how Benny was seemingly wooed by a pretty blonde. She paused at the bottom of the stairs and glanced over at her older sisters watching TV in the living room; they were watching the latest broadcast of a singing competition show, and for different reasons: Lori and Leni were both smitten with a handsome young man who was aspiring to be a blues singer, and while his voice was not exactly smooth, they both felt his good looks more than made up for it. Luna, on the other hand, was more interested in actual talent than looks, and was a fan a feisty young woman who could really wail on an electric guitar. Luan came to realize how much prettier her older sisters were; Lori and Leni were perhaps the prettiest of the Loud sisters, with their golden hair, their photogenic faces, and their tastes in fashion; even Luna was pretty in her own, unique, yet unconventional way, with her adorable, freckled face, and how she really made her rocker look work well for her; Luan suddenly felt like an ugly duckling compared to them. When the show went to commercial, both Lori and Leni grabbed onto each other, squealing as fan girls do.

"Jake is literally moving onto the semi-finals!" Lori squealed.

"Totes! Like, how could he not?" Leni also squealed.

"'Cause the judges were clearly not impressed with his performance?" Luna added, while rolling her eyes at her older sisters' blind infatuation.

"Aww, you're just upset because Magda dropped down into the bottom three since last week!" Lori said, before her eyes caught Luan standing at the bottom of the stairs, blankly staring at the three of them. "What are you up to, Luan?"

Luan snapped out of it, "What? Um, nothing. Nothing."

"You keep staring at us, what's going on?" Lori asked. "You are def up to something!"

"Yeah, you're not planning another prank on us again, are you?" Leni asked.

"No. I was just going," said Luan, finally marching up the stairs, all the while Lori and Leni kept a suspicious eye on her, though Luna just looked on in quiet confusion.

With the other Loud siblings engaged in their own activities, Luan had a rare moment of having the bathroom all to herself. She entered, locked the door behind her, approached the mirror, and felt genuine disgust at what she perceived to be an ugly face staring back at her. Despite both of her parents telling her to the contrary that she is growing up to be a very beautiful young lady, even she knew it was just one of those things parents have to say to their growing daughters; she knew she was not the beauty queen type - Lola had already claimed that title in the family. But, she actually thought of herself as being cute, in a quirky sort of way... she even thought she was cute enough for Benny to find her attractive. She had to suppose that even a sensitive, socially awkward boy like him is not immune to the feminine vibes of a charming blonde girl like Juney. Her imperfections and blemishes were suddenly heightened as she stared at herself in the mirror: she could almost count each and every single noticeable pore across her face - many of which across her nose and cheeks were clogged with black heads. Seeing her pronounced overbite with the braces across her bucked front teeth screamed names like 'Squirrel Girl' and 'Bugs Bunny' in the back of her mind. And clearly a late bloomer, her physical maturity did not equate to that of most other girls her age, who were already blossoming into womanhood; she was still flat-chested, and her thin frame made her completely straight with no curves whatsoever. To top it all off, she came to realize that just about the only place she had any meat on her bones were below her knees... she knew there was nothing appealing about cankles and giant clown feet.

The self-assessment only added to Luan's inner torment and anguish, as she turned away from the mirror in disgust, and retreated to the room she shares with Luna. As she sat on the edge of her lower bunk, she reconsidered her relationship with Benny, and the possibility of it progressing: she thought they had a special bond, a real connection, something that brought them together inside... He knew she had feelings for him, but he returned her feelings. Didn't he? He told her he did through his marionette, Mrs. Appleblossom. Or, was that just his way of easing her discomfort and nervousness about having to kiss him in _Romeo & Juliet_? Whatever the case may be, she resigned to the notion that outer appearances and physical attraction are far more powerful than what is on the inside. If the prospect of losing Benny to a pretty blonde like Juney was the only problem Luan thought she was faced with, she would be in for a very rude awakening. She felt a buzz in the pocket of her blouse as her phone vibrated.

* * *

**In closing, I would like to once again apologize for the very similar set-up of Luan being bullied, and (seemingly) losing Benny to another girl in this story, and hopefully this is where the similarities will end.**

**Hold on, folks; this is going to be quite a long, bumpy ride...**


	3. Goodbye, Cruel World

Feeling her phone vibrating in the pocket of her blouse, Luan removed it to see what this was a notification of. Swiping her finger across the screen to unlock it from hibernation brought up her social media feed, and there it was: a photo of her butt sticking straight up in the air, with her clowns with balloons printed underwear for all the world to see, turned into a meme with a caption reading 'WHEN THE CLOWN BECOMES THE BUTT OF HER OWN JOKE.' Luan had forgotten all about the mean-spirited prank that was played on her at the beginning of her day, and not only did seeing her butt being used as the subject of a meme on social media intensify her anguish, the reactions offered little support either. The very few reactions of angry emojis from those recognizing a cruel and mean-spirited prank were nothing compared to the countless number of reactions with laughing emojis, and scrolling through the comments were even worse:

_"the clown got clowned! get it?"_

_"full moon tonite, get it?"_

_"dats how u crack a smile! get it?"_

_"i see london i see france get it"_

_"somebody's gettin cheeky, get it?"_

_"do they float? haha, get it?"_

_"what's that smell? get it? lolz!"_

_"see now why ur mom always says wear clean underwear?"_

And, some of the more lewd comments:

_"id tap dat!"_

_"bootylicius!"_

_"dem legs doe!"_

_"lemme show u what i can do!"_

_"sexy clown cum 2 my bday!"_

Luan threw her phone across the room, burying her face into her hands as she wept uncontrollably. This had to have been the absolute worst day of her life: being pranked by her bullies at school, seemingly losing her crush to a prettier girl, and now publicly humiliated across social media. Her feelings were beyond wishing she was a turtle who could retreat into her shell, she felt like wishing she was a ground hog who could burrow her way into a deep, dark hole, and just drown herself in a warren of her own despair. Her sobbing was broken by the sound of a garbled cooing. She broke away from her emotional collapse to find Baby Lily waddling into the room; she only made it about halfway before she stumbled forward onto her belly, which only made her giggle as she crawled the rest of the way over to Luan's feet. Luan sighed as she scooped up her baby sister, cradling her in her arms. Seeing the look of sorrow and tears streaming down her funny sister's face was enough to erase the smile from Lily's own face and replace it with a quizzical look of confusion and concern. Feeling her nose beginning to run, Luan sniffed, making a loud, bubbly, wet, 'SNNNRRFKT' sound, which broke Lily into a fit of laughter.

Luan looked at her baby sister, the sound of her laughter bringing back a small, but almost insignificant sliver of light into her pit of darkness; she revealed a half smile as well.

"You think it's funny, don't you?" She asked, as Lily kept laughing. Luan sighed once more, "I know the real reason why you're laughing at me, Lil-Lil. You're too young to have a really developed sense of humor."

Luan could feel her nose about to run again, so she induced another loud, wet, 'SNNNRRFKT,' which made Lily laugh even more. Lily's adorable baby laughter was contagious enough to bring a small, yet defeated whimper of a chuckle out of Luan, who continued to engage her baby sister.

"Hey, Lilster? Do you know what sound piggies make?" Luan asked.

"Poo-poo!" Lily squealed.

"Not quite," said Luan. She sniffed loudly again, only this time, she did it with her mouth wide open, letting out an incredibly loud, full-throated 'SNNOOOOORRRRKT' sound, like a pig.

Lily broke into her biggest fit of laughter yet, guffawing with such joy and delight, as such funny noises were among her favorite things that Luan could do. Luan laughed along with her, following up with yet another loud and full-throated 'SNNOOOOORRRRKT!' Lily laughed even harder, so much harder that she started coughing because she almost lost her breath. Luan brought Lily over her shoulder, gently patting her back to help her catch her breath again.

* * *

Later that night, the Loud family were all tucked into their beds, sleeping soundly, except for Luan. She laid awake, staring into the wooden slats supporting Luna's bunk above her head. She may have had some deep, hidden insecurities beforehand, though one would never be able to tell by the image she projects of herself being always happy, jovial, cheerful, and optimistic. She certainly had years to perfect her craft for performing, telling jokes, and pulling pranks -a talent she possessed genuinely- but, it was also something of a mask that she wore to hide her insecurities. Only now, the mask could no longer hide them. Lying awake under the covers of self-loathing, Luan suddenly saw herself as a waste of space. Save for her baby sister and her father, the rest of the Loud family seems to harbor contempt for her - something she tried to shrug off whenever her siblings would react in utter annoyance at her behavior, but it became apparent to her that they were genuinely fed up with it... with her. The jokes could no longer protect her from the bullies at school, who managed to take her joking nature and turn it against her to bite her in the butt - literally and figuratively. And the one person she thought genuinely liked her in a way nobody else did seemingly being seduced by somebody better than her; it was all Luan could do to keep the tears from spilling out again. A waste of space, she thought of herself, figuring that everybody would be better off if she removed herself from their lives altogether. In a huge family of thirteen, who would even miss her? In fact, they would probably revel in prospect of not having to put up with her incredibly lame puns, obnoxious comedy routines, and/or elaborate pranks ever again. In a high school where everybody sees her as the class clown (in a bad way, opposed to elementary and middle school), they too would probably revel in the thought that they got rid of her. And now that Benny has Juney, what does it even matter anymore?

As Luna slumbered in the bunk above her, dreaming of she and Sam performing as a rock duo in sold-out arenas across the country, Luan slipped out of her bed, and quietly began filling up her backpack with some of her personal belongings: some changes of clothes, her toothbrush, one of her favorite joke books, among other items. Just as quietly, she crept out of the house; the symphony of her family's various different snores and other night noises that were easily filtered through the house's infamously paper-thin walls were quickly fading as she stole away into the night. She went out into the garage and grabbed her unicycle, which was pretty much her only mode of transportation. Placing her backpack and helmet onto their respective places, she took one last look at the Loud House, wiping her eyes and nose with the back of her hand, before zipping off.

Pedaling her unicycle down the sidewalk, she contemplated where she might go. She considered the idea of asking her new friend Maggie if she could ask her family if she could stay with them for a while, but they had only just met, and did not really know each other that well. With no other options coming to her mind, she figured (despite it being a tremendous cliché) she would run away and join a circus - the only place in the world where a freak like her could possibly fit in. Onward she pedaled, unware of a mysterious dark vehicle driving along side her, as the driver rolled down the windows to call out to her.

"Say, you're pretty talented," said the mysterious driver. "I've seen a lot of people master two-wheelers, but you don't often see people who can master a one-wheeler."

"I guess that must make me wheelie special," said Luan, immediately regretting the quip that flowed off of her tongue, instinctively.

"Witty, very witty!" The driver complimented, though Luan could barely crack a smile. "Are you okay?"

"No. No, I'm really not," said Luan.

"Wanna talk about it?" The driver asked.

Although usually naive about the world, and lacking in street smarts, Luan knew not to talk to strangers, and continued pedaling away, "That's okay."

"It might help to talk to somebody about your problems," offered the driver.

"No, thanks," said Luan, still trying to pedal away.

"Where are you heading?" The driver asked.

"Nowhere," lied Luan.

"Need a ride?" The driver asked.

"No, I really don't; goodbye," said Luan.

Luan started to pedal a little faster; although she ended up a little ways ahead of the driver, her big ears could detect the sounds of the engine revving a little faster. This prompted her to pedal even faster, which she then heard only prompted the car the rev even faster behind her. Coming to a corner, she made a quick turn, realizing she was being pursued as the car turned the same corner. Panic setting in, she struggled to maintain her balance as she pedaled faster than she ever had before, with the mysterious car still in pursuit. Coming upon some city blocks, she felt this would be a good opportunity to ditch her stalker. She pedaled down another corner that contained a block of nothing but mini malls, making another quick turn down a narrow alley. Her heart racing, she peered over her shoulder to see the car drive past the alley, which brought a small dose of relief thinking she shook her stalker. She continued pedaling down the alley, seeing it leads to another street, and deciding she would double back in the opposite direction, hoping this would add further distance between them. No such luck. Just feet away from the entrance, the car pulled up by the sidewalk again, blocking her escape. It happened so quickly that her brain did not have enough time to communicate to the muscles in her legs to stop pedaling, and she crashed right into the car, flinging herself like a ragdoll through the passenger window. As she dangled helplessly over the edge of the door, the man's large hand grabbed the bottom of her backpack, pulling her into the car, as the windows were rolled up, the doors were locked, and the car drove off into the night.

* * *

Morning routines carried on as normally in the Loud House; the siblings were engaged in their usual fights for their turn in the bathroom before crashing downstairs for breakfast. The ruckus of the family talking amongst themselves over breakfast was no different from any other Saturday morning, but even as the conversations proceeded, there was an eventual sense that something was not quite right: among the various different talking points throughout the morning, not a single joke was remarked toward any of them. It was then noticed that Luan's respective place at the breakfast table was empty.

"Where's Luan? She's usually got a good clucker about how the eggs turned out," said Lynn, Sr. with a chuckle; everybody in the family knew where she got her sense of humor from.

The rest of the family murmured in confusion.

"She's been acting really, really weird lately," said Lori. "I mean, weirder than usual... for her"

"Come to think of it, she was unusually quiet last night," said Luna. "I could barely get a word out of her before we went to bed. And this morning, she didn't flush the toilet while I was in the shower."

"She isn't sick, is she?" Asked a concerned Rita.

The rest of the family only murmured in confusion again until Luna offered to go upstairs and fetch her. When stepping into the bedroom the two shared, Luna was overcome with a strange feeling: the room was silent. Dead silent.

"Hey, Luan, you're missin' out on breakfast," said Luna, without receiving an answer. "Hey, Luan? You feelin' okay, dude?" Still no answer. Luna approached Luan's bunk, noticing the lumpiness under the covers she took to be her sister still sleeping, but pulling back the covers nearly gave her a jumpscare: rather than finding her sister sleeping in her bunk, she instead found her pillows in place of where her body would be, with Mr. Coconuts at the head of her bunk.

The color nearly drained from Luna's face, as she went back downstairs and returned to inform the rest of her family of Luan's disappearance, "She's not in her bed... in fact, I can't find her anywhere."

The rest of the family was puzzled. "Where could she be?" Lynn, Sr. asked.

Lincoln's face turned grim when a thought came to his mind, "Wait a minute... what's today's date? It's not April Fool's Day, is it?"

Panic began setting in among most of the other relatives. "I knew she was up to something!" Lori insisted. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"

Lisa interjected with more logical reasoning, "Allow me to point out that the date of today is not April 1st, but rather, November the 9th."

The rest of the family breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good, then she must not be pranking us!" Lori said.

"Not necessarily," continued Lisa. "Regardless of the date or occasion, we cannot also dismiss our fourth-eldest sister's penchant for concocting elaborate, yet mundane set-ups at the rest of our family's expense."

Leni shivered, "You really think she's penning an expensive setup?"

Silence.

"This could be just another one of her pranks," suggested Lincoln.

"But, what if it's not?" Luna asked.

So much uncertainty. Despite living every April Fool's Day in absolute terror of Luan's behavior, they were still always unprepared for her occasionally impulsive pranks that always took them by surprise. Was this another one those occasions? Was she setting them up for another elaborate prank of some sort?

Lynn, Sr. arose from his seat at the table, with a quiver in his voice, "Okay, nobody panic... everybody remain calm... we'll just exercise a little extra caution throughout the day..."

Their father's words of reassurance offered them everything but, as the rest of the Loud siblings did, indeed, begin to panic, and scatter throughout the house. If Luan was setting them up, none of them wanted to fall victim to whatever her latest prank may be. Lisa retreated to her specially-equipped bunker out in the yard, while most of the other siblings retreated to their respective bedrooms, locking themselves in - except for Lucy.

"Sigh," sighed Lucy. "Guess I should once again start planning everyone's funerals."

Lucy left the table, while Lynn, Sr. and Rita exchanged worried looks with each other.

"I mean... I'm... sure it's nothing to be too concerned about," said Lynn, Sr.

"We better not take any chances, where'd you store the safety gear?" Rita asked.


	4. Crouching Louds, Hidden Prankster

The tension throughout the Loud House was so thick, you could have cut it with a knife. Each of the family members were on edge, not knowing what Luan was possibly up to. April Fool's Day is bad enough, but at least on that day, they know to expect the worst in Luan, as her pranks become more and more elaborate and violent each and every year. On days like this, however, it was the not knowing that made it even worse for them. When confronted on such a day, in which Luan had super glued the toilet seat shut, causing the rest of the family to resort to either going in the sink, or in the bathtub, her simple explanation was that, like much of anything else, she likes to stay in practice. Was this another occasion of her trying to stay in practice? And if so, what was she trying to pull? All of the uncertainty was turning everyone into a nervous wreck.

Locked in his cramped makeshift bedroom in the upstairs brick-a-brack closet, Lincoln began texting Ronnie Anne.

_hey ronnie anne, did luan say anything about pulling another prank?_

He remembered one April Fool's Day, Luan had lured him out of his room during one of her Prankpocalypse episodes by inviting Ronnie Anne over, knowing that he would intentionally set off all of the pranks in the house before she arrived so she would not have to fall victim to any of them herself.

Ronnie Anne replied:

_no. why?_

Lincoln replied:

_just wanting to make sure, we think she may be setting us up for another one._

Down the hall, Leni kept peering out of the keyhole in the door of hers and Lori's bedroom.

"See anything?" Lori asked, her voice barely raising above a whisper.

Leni did not hear her older sister, and nearly jumped out of her skin when Lori tapped her head to get her attention, "Don't do that!"

Lori practically gritted her teeth, "I hate it when Luan does this to us! One of these days, that girl's going to get hers!"

Leni was confused, "Get her what?"

"You know, her just deserts?" Lori asked.

"Ooh, just desserts sounds sweet!" Leni said, while rubbing her tummy and smacking her chops.

Lori's eyes widened, "Leni, you are literally starting to act like Luan."

Leni's face soured, "Yikes, that's a totes scary thought."

Across the hall, the dead silence in their own bedroom was almost deafening to Luna, as her ears kept ringing louder and louder. She was afraid to practice her drums or guitars, or listen to her iPod or stereo, in fear of Luan possibly striking when she lets her guard down, given that she seems to receive the worst of Luan's pranking, which she figures to be retribution for the fights and arguments they get into as sisters and roommates. Meanwhile, not hearing Luan laughing as she flips through her joke books, or that annoying voice she uses when playing with Mr. Coconuts only contributed to the deafening silence. As the ringing grew louder and louder in her ears, Luna stuck her fingers into them, wriggling them around, to bring her some relief. While fiddling with her ears, she paused when she thought she heard a buzzing sound. Her eyes darted around the room, fearful of what that buzzing could be: did Luan bug their bedroom? Literally? She easily pulled her fingers out, and heard the buzzing again, but her well-trained ears realized this buzzing was clearly from no insect, as it sounded far more mechanical and electronic. She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her skirt to see if, perhaps, somebody like Sam or Chunk was texting her, but the screen revealed nothing. Another buzz was heard, and she saw it was coming from another phone on the floor across the room. Using caution, she stepped across the room to pick the phone up off the floor by Luan's makeshift stage. Was this part of Luan's crazy prank? Looking at the screen, Luna saw a small series of texts that had come from Benny:

_Hey Luan!_

_..._

_Luan? You there?_

_..._

_Juney wants to get together for lunch, you in?_

Luna was beginning to grow concerned. Not knowing what else to do, she replied:

_hey Benz, this is Luna, Luans sister. I dont think shes here right now._

After a couple of minutes of silence, Benny replied:

_Oh? Where is she?_

Luna replied:

_dont know, we think she maybe pranking us._

Benny replied:

_I see._

_..._

_Will you let her know I tried to get in touch with her?_

Luna replied:

_sure brah_

Benny replied:

_Thanks!_

Luna swiped the screen to close the texting app, but when she did, she saw something else that not only filled her with sorrow and disgust, but also seemed to explain everything.

"Oh, dude... not cool..." she mumbled sympathetically, placing her free hand over her mouth.

* * *

Down on the first floor, Lynn, Sr. and Rita carefully maneuvered their way around the house; Lynn, Sr. once again bundled up head to toe in bubble wrap, while Rita also donned protective padding, as well as a hockey mask - both of them just anticipating some kind of an elaborate surprise from their prankster daughter, and not wanting to risk any sort of serious injury as a result of it... why they never discipline, reprimand, or even outright punish her for such actions that often result in her family members being seriously injured -almost fatally so- is anybody's guess.

"The basement and the kitchen are clear," said Rita, softly.

"So are the living room and dining room," said Lynn, Sr., just as softly.

They both trekked to the bottom of the stairs, neither of them hearing a single sound from the upper floor.

"Go ahead," insisted Rita.

"Um, you first," offered Lynn, Sr.

"I really think you should go first, honey," insisted Rita.

"The custom is always ladies first, dear," said Lynn, Sr.

"Well, that's true, but you're the man of the house, you should make sure it's safe for your lady," said Rita.

"How about we flip for it?" Lynn, Sr. asked.

"Best two out of three?" Rita asked.

Lynn, Sr. had difficulty trying to reach into his pockets to get a coin, but he did not have to - the sounds of Luan's laughter coming from the upper floor caused both of them to jump into the air in a panic; Lynn, Sr. jumped into Rita's arms like Scooby-Doo jumping into Shaggy's arms.

"She's up there!" Lynn, Sr. shrieked in a wimpy, girly voice.

"Honey... I can't..." Rita struggled to say from the sudden weight of her husband having just jumped up into her arms, causing them to tumble to the floor below.

The sounds of Luan's laughter was coming from the twins' bedroom. Lynn, Sr. and Rita finally stormed in, hoping to nab and contain Luan, but were taken by surprise: the sounds of Luan's laughter came not from Luan herself, but the tape recorder Lisa uses to take notes for her scientific studies. It had been broken during a mishap as a result of another one of her experiments going awry, and although Lisa was perfectly capable of repairing the damaged recorder herself, it had been a while since something had gone haywire in the Loud House; Lana was just itching to break out her tools and tinker with it, so Lisa relented to her handy sister's request, and relinquished the recorder for her to fix... in exchange for a cookie.

"What's that, honey?" Rita asked.

"I fixed Lisa's tape recorder!" Lana said.

Lola crawled out from under her tea party table, "THAT'S where that laughing was coming from? You scared the jeepers out of me! I'm gonna strangle you!"

Lana rewound the tape to let the others listen to the entire test recording:

_"I'm trying to fix Lisa's tape recorder. Wanna give it a try and see if it works?"_ Lana's voice crackled out of the recorder's speaker.

_"Sure!"_ Luan's voice also crackled out, _"Say, what do you call it when you record the sound of a ticking alarm clock on tape?"_

_"I don't know,"_ said Lana. _"What DO you call it when you record the sound of a ticking alarm clock on tape?"_

"_A ticker tape,"_ was Luan's punchline, breaking out into her usual fit of obnoxious laughter. _"Hahahahaha! Get it?"_

_"Uhhh, no, I don't get it..."_ was Lana's somewhat defeated response.

As Luan's laughter continued to play on tape, Lynn, Sr. could not help but chuckle himself, "I get it! That is a good one!"

Fed up, Rita removed her hockey mask, "Okay, that's it! I think we've had just about enough of this!" Stepping out into the hallway, she began calling out for Luan, "Luan Loud, the jig is up! We are not going to spend the rest of our day living in fear! Now come on out, wherever you are!"

The rest of the Loud siblings easily cracked their respective bedroom doors open, hoping to see Luan emerge from wherever she may be hiding, as they cautiously made their way out into the hall.

"You heard me, young lady! Out! This instant!" Rita demanded.

"You heard your mother, Luan! Come on out!" Lynn, Sr. said. "Just... please don't jump out from behind anything..."

Luna sadly trudged down the hall with Luan's phone in hand, "Hey guys, I don't think Luan's playin' with us this time..."

"What makes you say that, honey?" Rita asked.

Luna hesitantly handed her mother Luan's phone, showing her the meme that was posted to social media of Luan's underwear being exposed in the corridor at school. Rita and Lynn, Sr. examined the photo, both of them unsure of what to make of it, but neither of them were happy about it. The twins broke into hysterical fits of laughter at the sight of Luan's ridiculous-looking clowns and balloons-printed underwear; even Lincoln was trying his hardest not to laugh - it clearly was not funny, but it came as no surprise to him that his clown sister would wear clown underwear. Leni began laughing as well, simply because the others were, and she had no clue what was going on. The parents, and the other sisters, however, did not crack a single smile.

"Who did this?" Rita asked.

"I don't know, I just found it on Luan's phone," said Luna.

"Let me see that," said Lori, as she took the phone away from Rita to examine it for herself.

In an attempt to cover their own butts (in the spirit of Luan - pun intended), the two bullies pulling up her skirt and holding her upper body down were cropped out of the photo, however, Lori tapped to enlarge the photo to further examine one of the bully's wrist. Although obscured by the angle, as well as pulling up Luan's skirt, Lori could just barely make out a few colorful bracelets on said wrist.

"Wait a minute, I think I know who one of these girls is..." she said. "I think this is Bonnie! That nasty little..." Lori suppressed herself from cussing in front of her family, "... beast. She has a notorious reputation for being a mean girl!"

Leni took the phone away from Lori to examine the finger of the other bully - the finger that was playfully pointing at Luan's butt. She instantly recognized the bright blue polish on the fingernail, "And I think I know who the other girl is... that's Sierra from my Language Arts class! She's always asking if she can borrow some of my fingernail polish. I don't know how many times I've told her no because she, like, never returns them, and that def is one of my old colors. I don't know how many times I've told her, like, blue is not her color, but she just never listens-"

Rita interrupted Leni's rambling by taking the phone back, "I am certainly not going to let this go unpunished!"

"I'll bet this is why we can't find Luan, she's probably gone into hiding," said Lynn, Jr., being all too familiar with being the victim of bullying.

"Where is Luan?" Rita asked. "I want her to know that I'm not going to let these girls get away with this."

* * *

Not knowing where Luan was possibly hiding, the rest of the family split up to look for her. The twins ran out into the yard, and began banging on the hatch to Lisa's bunker.

"Hey, Lisa! Open up, open up!" Lola demanded.

"I regret to inform you that I, at this moment, cannot comply with your demands," said Lisa, from inside.

"Luan's not pranking us, she's really missing!" Lana said.

"Mommy and Daddy want us to look for her!" Lola said.

Reluctantly, Lisa emerged from her bunker, "Our fourth-eldest sister is actually missing? Well, that certainly changes everything. We must comb the parameter to see if we can scope out where she may be lying in wait."

The twins just stared their brainiac sister with quizzical looks written across their faces.

Lisa repressed a sigh, "Roughly translated: let's go find Luan."

Lynn, Jr. went up into the attic. Having been bullied in the past herself, she remembered it was where she would retreat to before she began developing a tougher exterior to protect herself from the bullies at school. The attic offered her a place where she could secretly seclude herself, to get away from her noisy family and hide her pain, causing Lucy to relinquish it as her dark, secret place. She felt certain that Luan might seek the same place in the house out for the same purpose, but peering around in the darkness, she saw no sign of her sister among the assortment of boxes and other storage containers.

"I don't think she's up here," said Lucy, appearing out of nowhere, frightening her sporty sister.

"Dah! HOW do you DO THAT, Luce?!" Lynn, Jr. asked.

Lynn, Sr. and Rita stepped down into the basement, flipping on the lights, likewise expecting to find their daughter seeking it out as a dark, quiet place to seclude herself, but found nothing... except for Lucy, since the basement became her dark, secret place after Lynn, Jr. started hiding up in the attic.

"I don't think she's down here," said Lucy, frightening her parents.

"Dah! WHAT did I JUST SAY about jumping out at us like that?" Lynn, Sr. asked.

Lori and Leni went through most of the bedrooms on the upper floor to see if Luan was hiding under a bed, or in a closet. Luna had the same idea when she returned to the bedroom she shared with Luan; she opened the closet, wondering if maybe she was sulking inside, but was surprised to find her half of the closet cleaned out of its clothes, and her backpack missing. When she turned around, she had a sickening feeling about the dresser drawers being askew - nothing too out of the ordinary for the two of them, but when she walked over and looked into Luan's drawers, she saw her under garments, socks, and other personal belongings were also missing; Luna could feel her heart plummet down to her feet.

While Lisa and the twins were covering the yards and the gardens, Lincoln went out into the garage for his search. Not only did he find no trace of his prankster sister, but there was something else out of the ordinary: her unicycle was gone.

Several minutes later, the various different family members met up in the living room.

"I have combed the entire property, and I can definitively conclude that our fourth-eldest sister is nowhere to be located on these premises," said Lisa, after coming back in from outside.

The twins followed shortly behind - Lana now covered in mud and other filth, "Yeah, she's nowhere outside."

The three older sisters came downstairs into the living room.

"We looked in all the bedrooms, she's literally not in any of them," said Lori.

"Yeah, she isn't even in the closet," said Leni.

"I thought maybe she might have gone up the attic to hide, but no sign of her," said Lynn, Jr.

Lucy suddenly appeared in the fireplace, frightening the rest of her family, "I have not come across her in any of the vents, duct work, or chimney."

At that moment, both Luna came down the stairs, and Lincoln came back into the house at the same time.

"Hey, Luan's unicycle is gone..." said Lincoln.

"It's worse than that," added Luna. "I just looked through our room... almost everything she owns is gone with the wind! Clothes, socks, shoes, you name it! Luan has left the building!"

The parents exchanged looks of horror, "Do you suppose she ran away from home?" Rita asked.

Lily came waddling into the living room, "Poo-poo!"

"Okay, everybody in the van!" Lynn, Sr. instructed. "We need to go out and look for her!"

The family dashed out the door and piled into Vanzilla. Before she followed the rest of her family, Lucy called for her pet bat, Fangs. Fangs flew out of the house, and landed on top of his mistress's head. "Luan is missing, Fangs. I want you to go out and help us find her. Will you do that?"

Fangs squeaked and nodded.

"Good, and remember: no biting," said Lucy.

Fangs took to the skies to scope as much of Royal Woods as he could to help search for Luan, while Lucy finally hopped into Vanzilla with the rest of her family so they could continue their own search for Luan wherever they could.


	5. Shrinking and Searching

Luan's eyes fluttered open, as she had finally awoken from the night before, but as she was returning to her senses, it was becoming apparent to her that the bed she was awaking in was not her own. As she observed her surroundings, she saw the entire room she was awaking in was also not her own. In addition to the double-sized bed she was waking up in, the barely furnished bedroom only contained a pair of night tables on either side, and an old-fashioned CRT television set across the room atop a smaller dresser. The bare, eggshell-colored walls offered no indication of whose room she was in, and the messy closet immediately to her left only told her that whoever lived here was even more slovenly than some of her own siblings. She sat up, yawned, and stretched; trying to shift her position in the bed revealed how sore and aching the lower half of her body was from where she had been pedaling like a little devil on her unicycle the night before, and yet, she could barely remember a thing about what happened.

The bedroom door swung open, and Luan took notice of the man in the doorway; at a quick first glance, she thought he was Flip, but as the man stepped into the room and approached the bed, she saw he was actually much taller, younger-looking, and a lot less sloppy and unkempt than the crooked convenience store owner. This man had a full head of thick, curly hair, albeit salt-and-pepper in color, and his thick, bushy eyebrows and mustache were black; looking at this man, Luan's mind identified him as a walking, talking walrus, wearing frameless spectacles, and neatly-pressed clothing consisting of a gray polo shirt, and dark navy jeans.

"Ah, you're awake! Wonderful," he said, taking a seat at the foot of the bed, while Luan tried to inch away from him. "I hope you were finally able to relax last night."

Luan was terribly confused, "What do you mean?"

"After the way you were pedaling like a little devil on your one-wheeler last night, that surely must have tired you out," he pointed out.

Luan tried to collect her thoughts, suddenly striking her who this man was, "Wait a minute... you... you're that stranger who was stalking me last night!"

"Did I scare you?" He asked. "I didn't mean to."

"Who are you, anyway?" She asked, feeling more and more intimidated at the prospect of being in the presence of this stranger.

"Forgive me," he said. "I'm Dr. Ronaldo Ventura. But, you can just call me Ronaldo, if you'd like."

Luan was puzzled, "You're a doctor?"

"A therapist, actually," he said.

"A therapist? Really?" She asked.

Not really. Ronaldo was certainly no licensed therapist - in fact, he never even graduated from any kind of courses or classes one would be required to take to earn a degree. He was not a particularly good student when it came to academics; he studied subjects like Psychology, Sociology, Psychiatry, and Human Development, but repeatedly failed the exams he was required to pass these courses. After failing multiple times, he saw he was getting nowhere in his academic studies, and decided to flunk out of schooling. Not that he would actually reveal any of this information to Luan. He did, however, retain quite a memory of his studies, feeling he mentally possessed an adequate amount of knowledge, expertise, and even experience to actually be a therapist, and would more often than not address himself as a doctor of psychiatry.

"As I said, it was not my intention to scare you," insisted Ronaldo. "Whenever I see somebody in distress, my gut instincts tell me to reach out and touch them."

A bad analogy to use in this case, as that last phrase caused Luan's mouth to twist into a crooked expression.

"So, what's your story?" Ronaldo asked, to keep the ball rolling.

"Me? I have no story," said Luan.

"Oh, come now..." Ronaldo was not buying it. "Everybody has to have a story... something has to explain what a girl was doing out on a unicycle in the middle of the night."

"I have my reasons..." said Luan, not in the mood for small talk with a man she does not even know.

Ronaldo began inching a little closer to Luan, "You know, it's really not healthy for anybody to suppress their emotions... think of it like a bottle of soda that gets shaken... eventually, all that's bottled up inside of you will pop..."

Luan could not face him; in her mind, her problems were not worth unloading on anybody else... and even so, nobody would want to listen anyway - even if somebody was a therapist.

"Can't you see I'm trying to help you?" Ronaldo asked. Still, Luan would not talk. Seeing how he was getting nowhere with a more direct approach, he decided to come at Luan from a different angle by trying to engage in more idle chit-chat, "So, what's your name?"

"Luan," she said, still without making eye contact with him.

"'Luan'..." he repeated. "That's a very pretty name. A very pretty name for a very pretty girl."

Luan completely turned away from Ronaldo by this time; she was not buying into his empty, backhanded compliments, "I'm not pretty..."

"Sure you are," insisted Ronaldo. "Why, every girl is pretty in her own way."

"Except for me," Luan sadly rebutted. "That's probably why I lost my crush to another girl who's way prettier than me..."

"What a shame..." remarked Ronaldo.

"And, I'm the ugliest one of my sisters..." added Luan.

"Oh, you have sisters?" Ronaldo asked.

"Nine," said Luan.

"NINE?!" Ronaldo asked.

"Three older sisters and six younger sisters," said Luan. "Plus, one brother."

Ronaldo was astounded at the prospect of such a large number of siblings, "Wow, your parents must stay busy as beavers."

Luan let out an abrupt snicker, which she quickly tried to subdue. It was not what he said that tickled her, it was the way he said, 'busy as beavers,' with such enthusiasm that made it sound so silly.

"Such a big family, though..." continued Ronaldo. "Don't you think they'd miss you?"

Luan did begin to give it another thought. Who in the Loud family would even miss her? Her father, perhaps? The only other member of the family who actually engages in humor with her? She shook the thought out of her head; he has nine other daughters, why would he miss just one? And what about Lily? Her only sibling she can easily get laughs out of? Again, she dismissed the thought; she has nine other siblings she can grow up with, including Luna, who tends to care for her when everybody else is too busy. Speaking of whom, what about Luna? Her roommate for almost their entire lives? They were so close growing up, like two peas in a pod, but all they ever do now is fight and argue; she could just visualize Luna belting out gospel praise like a choir member filled with the spirit of the Lord over the prospect of never having to put up with her jokes day and night ever again, and having the whole room all to herself from now on. These thoughts only reminded Luan of her reasons for running away in the first place: there is no room for her in a family where she does not belong.

Slowly she shook her head, "I doubt it."

"Surely, you don't really think that?" Ronaldo asked, slightly raising his hand in the air.

"I really think they'd probably be a lot happier without me," said Luan.

"I see... sounds like you have a case of Middle Child Syndrome," said Ronaldo, trying to sound like the professional shrink he pretends to be.

Luan sighed, "No, it's not that, it's just..."

"What?" Ronaldo asked.

Luan began to realize that she was already opening up to Ronaldo more than she wanted to. After what she had been going through, she was even more vulnerable than ever before. Her naïveté in believing that Ronaldo was who he says he is, Luan finally resigned to opening up to him: "I'm just so stupid..."

"You are not stupid," insisted Ronaldo. "Don't say that about yourself; don't put yourself down like that."

"I am," insisted Luan. "I'm a pest and a nuisance... my family's just fed up with me... because I have a sickness..."

Ronaldo was perplexed, "You don't seem sickly to me."

"I mean... I like to tell jokes... I like to crack puns... I like to pull pranks... I like to make people laugh... it's as natural to me as breathing... I do it so much, it annoys everybody... I get more moans and groans than I do laughs..." confessed Luan.

"I don't see that as a sickness at all," said Ronaldo. "You must just have a really good sense of humor!"

"I thought I did..." said Luan. "But, maybe I don't... I don't know... I just know my family probably wouldn't even miss me... they certainly wouldn't miss my jokes..."

"So, where are you going?" Ronaldo asked.

"I'm running away to join the circus," said Luan in a very blunt and matter-of-fact tone.

Ronaldo induced a fake guffaw in an attempt to boost her self-confidence, only to have her cringe at how obviously fake his laughter sounded, "Oh that is a good one!"

"I'm serious," said Luan, in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

Ronaldo ceased with his fake laughter, "Really?"

"Really," said Luan. "I'm sure it's the only place where a freak like me can fit in and belong..."

Ronaldo was good on his word; he reached out and touched Luan by placing his hand over her hand, making her feel incredibly awkward and uncomfortable, "You are not a freak," he insisted. "What did I tell you about putting yourself down?"

By this time, Luan was making actual eye-contact with him. He could see the vulnerability in her eyes, as she stared at him with a blank, almost emotionless face, "You just don't know me very well..."

Ronaldo smiled, "I would like to, though. I would like to get to know you, very well."

Luan's eyes widened, as she slowly shook her head; to her, Ronaldo would be making a big mistake, "You'd only regret it..."

Ronaldo continued smiling, "Maybe I would... but, then again... maybe I wouldn't..."

Luan was beginning to think that perhaps she had misjudged Ronaldo. His warm eyes and affectionate smile behind his excessive facial hair projected a trusting image - just as he wanted. Maybe he really did want to help her, maybe he really did want to get to know her, and maybe she could trust and open up to him. As she continued looking into his face, she felt his smile becoming contagious, as she slowly started to reveal a grin of her own, with her braces barely poking through her parted lips; this just made him smile even more.

* * *

Late afternoon is when Vanzilla tore through the streets of the major Royal Woods metropolitan area, each of the other Loud family members looking for any sign as to Luan's whereabouts, but they were turning up nothing. They stopped by any and every place they figured she may turn up: the school grounds, the library, the theater, the different parks, the new magic shop at the mall, Lynn's Table, but there was no trace of her anywhere. Growing desperate, the Louds also began to talk to other people during their journey; during their search at the mall, Lori ran up to Bobby when she spotted him on patrol, "Bobby! Bobby!"

"Hey, Babe!" Bobby greeted her.

"Bobby, you haven't seen Luan come in here at any time today, have you?" She asked.

"No, why, was I supposed to?" He asked.

"No, it's just that she's missing, and we're trying to find her," said Lori. "We thought maybe she might be at the new magic shop that just opened up."

"You don't think she made herself disappear, do you?" Bobby asked.

Lori's face just went blank; as much as she loved him, sometimes his absent-mindedness was like dealing with a male version of Leni.

There were other places the family checked as well. At one point, they stopped by the McBride house, where Lincoln sought out his best friend who greeted him at the front door.

"Clyde, you haven't seen Luan anywhere, have you?" Lincoln asked.

Clyde began to tremble in fear, "No, why, is she pulling another one of her pranks?"

"No, we thought she might be," admitted Lincoln. "We locked ourselves in our rooms for hours today, just expecting that she was setting us up for one... but she's actually missing."

"Where do you think she could have gone?" Clyde asked, growing concerned.

"We don't know, that's why we're looking everywhere, and asking everybody!" Lincoln said.

Everybody indeed. While driving through town at one point, the family spotted Scoots motoring along the sidewalk in her scooter. Lynn, Sr. pulled over, allowing the speedy Lynn, Jr. to hop out and run after her.

"Scoots! Scoots! Have you seen Luan?" Lynn, Jr. asked once she managed to catch up with the elderly speed demon.

"Ehhhh, not since that dingbat acted like she was puttin' on a comedy show for us a month ago," said Scoots. "Didn't laugh once... I've seen denture commercials funnier than that clown school reject."

Lynn, Jr. smirked, "Yeah... well, if you happen to run into her, will you let us know?"

"Meh, whatevs," said Scoots, before zipping off.

At another point during the drive, when stopped at a red light, Luna looked out the window and noticed Chunk just happened to be in his van in the lane next to them, on his way to another gig. She leaned over and opened the window, calling out to her roadie, "Chunk! Chunk!"

Chunk looked over and saw Luna calling out to him, "Ello, Luv! Fancy runnin' into you!"

"Chunk, you haven't seen my sister Luan, have you?" Luna asked.

"Oy, not since I met her back at the Royal Rumble," answered Chunk. "A regular lil' pip that one is, eh what?"

"She's missin', Chunk, and we're tryin' to find her," Luna called out, just as the light turned green, and both vans proceeded to roll forward. "Will you keep an eye open for her, and let us know if you see her?"

"Will do, Luv!" Chunk yelled out to Luna while Vanzilla sped away.

* * *

As the sun was setting, the Louds returned home, unsuccessful in finding Luan; even when Fangs coincidentally returned just seconds afterwards, the defeated look on his face was enough of an indication to Lucy that he, too, was unsuccessful in finding her. As the family entered their home, Rita laid out a plan of action...

To Lynn, Sr. she instructed: "First thing in the morning, before work, I want you to contact the sheriff's office, and report Luan's disappearance so we can get some help searching for her."

To Lori, Leni, and Luna she instructed: "I'm driving you three to school tomorrow. I'll drop you off, then I'm going to speak to Principal Jones about what happened Friday, and see what she plans to do about these girls. Meanwhile, I want you to talk to Luan's teachers, let them know why she's absent, and hopefully they'll be on the look-out for her as well."

And to the entire family she instructed: "And I want us all to remain on the look-out at all times... Luan is out there, and we need to find her before anything happens to her."

There was hardly any sleep to be had in the Loud House that night; everybody in the family laid awake in their beds, staring at their ceilings, worrying about Luan's whereabouts and well-being. Neither Lynn, Sr., nor Rita could stop thinking about how Luan had been pranked and publicly humiliated on social media... it suddenly made all of her own violent April Fool's pranks against the rest of the family seem so much more harmless - after all, she never planned any pranks out of malicious intentions. Rita hoped she would be able to control her own anger in Principal Jones's office tomorrow, when the girls who did this to Luan are brought in and taken to task for what they had done.

Upstairs, not only was Lucy lying awake and loudly sighing in a non-stop loop, Lynn, Jr. was actually sighing along with her in stereo:

"Sigh... Sigh... Sigh... Sigh..."

The incident brought back unpleasant memories for Lynn, Jr., dealing with her own issues with bullies in the past, but those experiences helped shape her into the rough-around-the-edges tough girl she became known for. Although she was never particularly close to funny sister, even she knew that was not part of Luan's personality; she knew first-hand what the pain of bullying felt like, and had empathy for Luan, worried about what sort of things she might resort to because of it. Part of her was wishing she could tag along with her mother and older sisters to Royal Woods High tomorrow, if only so she could give those three bullies a throw-down and teach them a lesson not to mess with any of the Loud sisters - but even so, a good thrashing would do nothing to bring Luan back.

In the next room, Luna felt a twinge of remorse. She often wished Luan would just drop off the face of the earth, so she could have the whole room to herself, and not have to listen to her awful puns, unfunny jokes, or annoying laughter anymore; the old adage, 'Be careful what you wish for' was ringing in the back of her mind. She usually slept listening to her headphones, but they broke; Lana trying to fix them only made them worse, and she was unable to afford a decent new pair (decent pairs being HUNDREDS of dollars). In recent times, she became acclimated to the sounds Luan made in her sleep - whether it was her silly-sounding snore, the slobbering of her drooling, or sleep-joking. Unable to sleep without any kind of noise, and knowing Luan was missing, Luna's mind was on the road of a guilt trip.


	6. Brawl in the Hall

Bright and early the next morning, the oldest Loud sisters entered the halls of Royal Woods High, and they were not at all happy. They stormed the halls until they spotted the three girls they were looking for, huddled together by their lockers, with a phone in hand. By the colorful bracelets dangling from her wrist, Lori's suspicion was confirmed that the ring-leader of this trio was notorious mean girl, Bonnie; Bonnie was tall and thin, with really long, black hair sporting neon green highlights, while also wearing oversized, ill-fitting, dark-colored clothing. The bright blue polish on the second girl's fingers also confirmed to Leni that she was her Language Arts classmate, Sierra; Sierra was a little shorter, with a slightly more feminine appearance, with long, wavy blonde hair, and a knee-length, purple dress. The third girl was the one who took the picture, and while the Loud sisters did recognize her, none of them knew her well enough to know her name. Her name was Daniella, and she was far shorter than her two accomplices, with an incredibly short pixie cut dyed in a pale pink color, with large, bright yellow glasses, freckles, a nose ring, a red flannel shirt, and skinny jeans. They were still having a laugh over the prank they had pulled on Luan, as they read even more new comments that were being posted on social media over the image they shared.

The Loud sisters confronted them at their lockers, prompting them to look up from their phone. "Oh, hey, Leni!" Sierra greeted her classmate.

"Don't, 'Hey, Leni!' me, Sierra!" Leni barked.

"Whoo! Is it somebody's time of the month?" Bonnie asked, sarcastically.

"Cut the crap, Bonnie," said Lori. "You're the ones who posted that meme of Luan, aren't you?"

"Who?" Bonnie asked. "Clown Butt?"

The three girls busted out laughing, much to the anger of the Loud sisters.

"Hey! She happens to be our Clown Butt sister!" Leni said.

"And you've publicly humiliated her!" Lori added.

The three mean girls faked shocked expressions, "You mean Clown Butt can dish it out, but she can't take it?" Bonnie asked, prompting a few more chuckles among the three of them.

"She doesn't 'dish it out' to be cruel and mean-spirited, and she would never go out of her way to publicly embarrass or humiliate anyone!" Luna said.

"And thanks to your cruel and mean-spirited dishing out, she's gone missing, and we can't find her!" Lori said.

"Clown Butt's run away from home?!" Bonnie asked, as she and her accomplices broke into an even bigger and louder fit of laughter, "O! M! G! How freakin' old is she?!"

Lori finally snapped, "YOU BITCH!"

She lunged forward and slammed Bonnie into the lockers behind her. Their anger and adrenaline racing, Leni and Luna jumped in behind Lori and also began attacking Bonnie, while Sierra and Daniella swooped in to try and pull the angry Loud sisters off of their ring leader. Other students in the hall witnessed what was unfolding, some even beginning to chant: "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" The scuffle was quickly escalating into a typical high school catfight, as Lori grabbed Bonnie by her hair, yanking her to the floor, and throwing herself on top of her; Bonnie began kicking and clawing at Lori, while Sierra and Daniella grabbed her to pull her off of Bonnie, though Leni and Luna tag-teamed the two of them to pull them off of Lori. Before the fight could turn anymore violent, a sharp voice barked, "_That's enough! I want to see you ladies in my office, this instant_!" The sharp voice belonged to Principal Jones - a tall, yet slightly frumpy middle-aged African-American lady with humongous white glasses similar to Leni's (though with clear lenses), and a casual gray cardigan sweater over a white blouse, and long gray skirt. Known throughout Royal Woods High for her brand of discipline and tough love, she was actually more affectionately known among many students as Mother Jones, rather than Principal Jones; she was in anything but a motherly mood as she stared the girls down with her strict, icy, authoritarian eyes. The six were escorted to her office, where Rita was already sitting off to the side. The girls were instructed to have a seat, while Principal Jones returned to her desk - Rita brought to her attention the meme that was posted of Luan on social media, and Principal Jones had brought the image up on her computer monitor to show the ladies that she knew about it.

"Mrs. Loud has brought to my attention that this photo was taken of Luan and posted to social media," Principal Jones pointed out. "And, I understand that the three of you are responsible for this."

The mean girls downplayed the incident to make it seem like it was nowhere as big of a deal that it was being made out as. "It was just a harmless little prank," insisted Bonnie.

"Prank or not, this is anything but harmless!" Principal Jones barked, "Pranking someone with the intent of embarrassing and humiliating them is not only harmful, it's BULLYING, and this school does NOT tolerate bullying in any way or form! Doing this to Luan in front of the school is bad enough, but sharing it for all the world to see is despicable and deplorable! I don't know if the three of you realize this, but once something is seen on the internet, it can't be unseen, especially when it gets shared and spread, as this appears to have been."

The statistics of the post indicated that the meme had certainly been shared several times - into the thousands.

Principal Jones resumed her verbal tongue-lashing, "Mrs. Loud has also informed me that Luan has been so distraught over this that she has turned up missing, and her family can't find her! Bullying has very, very serious consequences, and if anything were to happen to Luan wherever she is, Heaven forbid, I would think that it would be weighing down on your conscience. So, what do you ladies have to say for yourselves?"

The mean girls had nothing to say; none of them expected their little prank would blow up to the proportions that it had, or that anybody would take it so seriously. To them, they saw it as nothing more than giving the clown a taste of her own medicine - just for kicks.

Principal Jones shook her head in a disapproving manner, "Even if you three deleted this from your social media profiles, it doesn't undo the damage that it's already caused since it's been put out there for all the world to see. While I see no way of fixing this part of the problem, the only way I see of issuing out retribution is to expel the three of you! And I will also be getting in touch with each of your parents to inform them of what has happened... and I hope, if your parents are decent parents, that they will find a suitable way of teaching you a lesson on why it's never a good thing to humiliate other people for your own, selfish amusement!"

The mean girls began slumping deeper into their seats at the realization of the deep trouble they had gotten themselves into - something they were regretting moreso than the actual prank they had pulled on Luan.

Principal Jones turned to Rita, "I hope for everybody's sake that Luan will be found sooner than later, and that she will be safe, and unharmed."

"I hope so too, Principal Jones," said Rita. "I hope we can get everybody that we can to help us find her."

Principal Jones returned her attention to the three Loud sisters, "And as for you three... in spite of your misfortune, your behavior in the hallway was just as inexcusable. Your anger is justifiable, but your actions are not, and acting out in your anger is no excuse for physically assaulting other students. I'm sure your mother would agree with that."

Rita offered a weak smile of agreement; in her own mind, however, she almost felt compelled to lash out at the three mean girls as well.

"Normally, the three of you would face a couple of weeks of suspension for such an infraction of school policy," continued Principal Jones. "However, given your extenuating circumstances, I'm willing to let the three of you off with a warning... but just this once, and I better not catch any of you doing something like this ever again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," said the sisters, in union.

All of this, meanwhile, Rita's hopes were being realized, as more effort was being put into finding Luan. As instructed, the first thing Lynn, Sr. did when he awoke that morning was contact the sheriff's office to report her disappearance, and it was not too long before the police department began issuing alerts.

* * *

At his small, rancher-style house in another part of town, Ronaldo was in his tiny kitchen cooking a breakfast of scrambled eggs for he and his house guest. His phone on the counter began vibrating and buzzing incredibly loudly, and a check of the screen revealed the emergency alert notification he had received: an alert for a missing teenager issued for the town of Royal Woods. Raising an eyebrow in intrigue, he discarded the alert, and slipped his phone into the pocket of his jeans, having a good idea this was issued in regards to the disappearance of his house guest, who had been asleep on the couch in the living room, which he had made up like a bed for her. The loud emergency alert tone had awaken her from her slumber, as she sat up, wiped the sleep from her eyes, and followed the smell of something cooking into the entryway of the kitchen.

"Hey, morning, Funny Face!" Ronaldo greeted Luan, seeing her through the entryway.

Luan did not know what to make of his greeting: was he calling her 'Funny Face' in an affectionate way to acknowledge her passion for all things comedy, or was he calling her 'Funny Face' because she actually has a funny-looking face?

"Breakfast is almost ready," said Ronaldo, as he finished scrambling the eggs.

"Oh boy, I'm famished," said Luan. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!"

"Talk about an awful nag!" Ronaldo joked.

Luan released her first real laugh in days; the more time she spent with him, Luan was beginning to discern that Ronaldo actually possessed a sense of humor in his own right. After setting up the table for their breakfast, Ronaldo decided to seize the opportunity to further bond with his house guest.

"So, are you still seriously considering running away and joining the circus?" Ronaldo asked.

Luan paused in eating her meal, and began picking at the eggs a little - they were pretty good, but nowhere near as delicious as the FUNNY-side up eggs her father can prepare. "Well... it's not only the only place I probably would be able to fit in and belong... but it would also allow me to continue living out my dream to a certain degree..."

"Is that so?" Ronaldo asked.

"I would still be making people laugh and entertaining them," said Luan. "I've got a lot of experience in clowning... not only did I graduate from Clowning Academy, I do jobs for children's birthday parties, retirement homes, and other small venues all the time..."

"Ah, so you're also something of an entrepreneur then, huh?" Ronaldo asked.

"No, I just run my own small business," said Luan, not understanding what the word entrepreneur means.

"You're very lucky, Luan," said Ronaldo. "You're young, ambitious, and very talented... you still have time to see that your dreams are achieved... unlike me..."

Luan looked up at Ronaldo with an expression of concern, "Oh?"

"My dreams had to be deferred..." explained Ronaldo, before shoveling another bite of eggs into his mouth.

"What were your dreams?" Luan asked.

Ronaldo leaned back into his seat for a moment, while wiping his mouth and mustache with his napkin. Seeing as how he had gotten Luan to open up to him a little more, he felt like he was making just the right amount of progress he wanted, and knew he needed to open up to her as well. Rather than admit his academic short comings, he instead decided to fabricate a little story that he believed a star-struck girl like her would invest in, "I suppose it's a little silly, but, I did use to dream of one day becoming a successful self-help guru."

"Really?" Luan asked.

"Well, maybe not to the extent of, say, Oprah, or Dr. Phil..." continued Ronaldo.

"What happened?" Luan asked.

"Ah, it's the corporate world," said Ronaldo. "It's all about making money off of people... most doctors would rather buy a bunch of big boats, and enroll into swanky country clubs... they'd rather improve their own lives, rather than try to improve the lives of the people who see them."

"I had no idea..." said Luan.

"But seeing what a dark and scary place the world can be, I just felt like I wanted to be able to help everyday people en masse..." said Ronaldo.

This sentiment mirrors Luan's exactly, "That's... that's exactly how I feel, too! My philosophy has always been, 'Every now and then I think the world's a scary place, but I remember it looks better with a pie thrown at your face.'"

Ronaldo chuckled.

"I just want to be able to help everyday people too, by bringing some joy and laughter into their world," said Luan. "Why, even Roger Rabbit said laughter can be a very powerful weapon."

"You're an astounding young lady, Luan," said Ronaldo, as he reached out, and placed his hand on hers resting on the table. "You know something? We seem to have an awful lot in common..."

Luan revealed a nervous smile, "I... I confess... I... I almost feel like we're... we're..."

"Kindred spirits?" Ronaldo asked.

"Exactly!" Luan exclaimed, as Ronaldo smiled even more.

"You know something, Luan?" Ronaldo asked. "It's not just people I like to help... I especially love to help children... after all, children are our future, and our future needs to be in the hands of capable, self-assured young individuals, who want to make the world a better place."

Luan's braces flashed as she gradually released a smile - a smile that looked as if it had belonged on her face all along. Finally, she felt like that there was somebody in the world who really, truly understood her, on more levels than just the silly clown who likes to make people laugh; somebody in the world who really, truly understood that her humor goes beyond just wanting to be funny, but that she wants to make the whole world a brighter and happier place through the power of laughter. Something she believed that nobody in her own family, or perhaps even Benny, quite understood about her. At the same time, Ronaldo could see that his practice in psychology was beginning to pay off.

* * *

As per their instructions, after the meeting in Principal Jones's office, the older Loud sisters took the time inbetween their own classes to inform Luan's teachers of her absence, what had happened to her, why she disappeared, and asking them to also be on the look-out for her as well. Before the school day was finished, Luna popped into the drama department to relay the information to Mrs. Bernardo, so before the day's rehearsal was to begin, she gathered her drama students together to inform them of the situation:

"Attention, cast and crew! I regret to inform you that our production has been struck by an unforeseen tragedyyyy," said Mrs. Bernardo, in her usual, flamboyant, overly-dramatic flourish. "It has been brought to my attention that Luan... is... MISSIIINNNNG!"

There was a mixture of gasps and other exclamations of shock among the drama students; Benny had a look of horror written across his face, "Luan's missing?!"

"Her family doesn't know what happened to her, or where she is," continued Mrs. Bernardo. "As awful as this is, it is with a heavy heart that I must remember the immooorrrtal words of P.T. Barnummmm: 'THE SHOOOWWWW MUST GO OOONNNN!' For the time being, we'll have to have somebody step in as an understudy for the part of the fool. Who would like to volunteer to dedicate their performance to Luaaannnn?"

As Mrs. Bernardo looked over the rest of her drama students who were presently still only extras, Benny lamented the loss of his special friend, "I can't believe Luan is missing!"

"Oh gosh," said Juney, patting his back. "That's really awful, Benny."

"All this time, I thought she was just pulling another prank on her family," admitted Benny. "Her sister, Luna, told me it's something she does... I had no idea she had actually gone missing!"

The look on Benny's face was equivalent to the passing of a loved one; Juney knew he was not acting this time, she knew this was raw emotion, as she held his hand, "I'm sure she's alright, Benny..."

Benny shook his head in uncertainty, "But what if she can't be found? What if we never see her again? She's the best friend I ever had... never before has anybody understood me or appreciated my love for the performing arts like her... I... I love her..." Benny hung his head in a silent sob, while Juney continued to squeeze his hand.


	7. Spreading the Word

After her meeting with Principal Jones earlier that morning, Rita once again took to the streets of Royal Woods to resume her own search for Luan, covering as many streets as she possibly could. After a few hours of driving Vanzilla around almost-aimlessly, she was beginning to realize that her ground-level search was only providing her with limited results; she needed to broaden her scope and expand her horizon, and she knew just how to achieve that. Later that afternoon, she stopped by the airport, and took to the skies in her personal plane, giving her a bird's-eye view of not only the greater Royal Woods area, but also the surrounding suburbs and neighboring communities of Huntington Oaks, Hazeltucky, Beaverton, and Fern Valley - Luan could be anywhere, and she did not want to overlook any area, nor leave any stone unturned. Unfortunately, her aerial search also turned up no signs of her missing daughter, nor any clues that could possibly point to her whereabouts. Feeling a sense of defeat, she brought her plane down for a landing, and just in time to return to Royal Woods High to pick up her three oldest daughters and transport them home.

"Did you three speak to Luan's teachers?" Rita asked them.

The sisters informed her of doing just that, and that the teachers agreed to remain ever-watchful for any sign of Luan. During the ride home, Rita was still incredibly angry over the entire situation; as wild and crazy as many of Luan's pranks can be, she could not fathom these other three girls pranking her in a far more cruel-hearted, and mean-spirited way as they have.

"I just can't get over what those three did to Luan..." said Rita, as her grip on the steering wheel tightened in her anger. "I wish Luan said something about the bullying sooner, then maybe we could have put a stop to it before it got to this point."

"Knowin' her, she probably hoped that she could just joke her way out of the bullying," theorized Luna. "I'll bet her bad jokes probably just made her an even bigger target for them."

"That probably explains why she's been cracking even more jokes than usual at home lately," deduced Lori. "She was probably using them as a coping mechanism to hide her troubles from the rest of the family..."

"And it finally came to a point where she couldn't hide behind the jokes anymore, because the joke was on her," said Luna.

"I always knew Bonnie, in particular, had a reputation for being nasty," said Lori. "But, I never knew that Luan was actually one of her victims."

Rita shook her head, "I think I'll call their parents myself, and tell them a thing or two!"

"Mom, Mother Jones is already layin' down the law," said Luna. "I don't think there's much more you can do..."

"I can let their parents know just how angry and upset I am that their daughters have humiliated my daughter, and what it has led to!" Rita barked.

"Luna's right, Mom," chimed in Lori. "They're already being expelled, and Mother Jones is calling their parents about what happened... I know you're angry, but calling up and chewing them out, too, isn't going to do anything to bring Luan back..."

"I still think they need to hear it directly from me!" Rita said.

After picking up the rest of the children from their respective after school activities, Rita also picked up Lynn, Sr. from his restaurant. Once they returned home, the information was exchanged amongst the family:

"Those three girls are being expelled from school, and Principal Jones is going to be getting in touch with their parents about what happened," Rita told Lynn, Sr.

"I contacted the police department this morning, they're going to give us their fullest cooperation in helping us try to find her," Lynn Sr. told Rita. "They'll be issuing out alerts with information to the public, so hopefully more people in town will be on the look-out for her."

As the Loud siblings ascended the stairs to retreat to their respective bedrooms, Lynn, Jr. stopped her older sisters to hound them for details, "Did you guys really throw-down with those mean girls?"

"Darned right we did," boasted Lori. "We weren't about to let those rhymes-with-witches get away with what they did to Luan!"

"Totes! It got really nasty, too," said Leni, as she observed her fingernails. "I def almost broke a nail!"

"Man, I wish I was there when it all went down!" Lynn, Jr. said, while wringing her hands, excitedly. "We Louds know how to get down-n-dirty!"

"Boy, it was a ballroom blitz, brah," said Luna. "We almost got suspended for it, but Mother Jones let us off the hook."

"I'll bet they'll think twice before they try messing with any of the Loud Sisters ever again!" said Lynn, Jr.

"And, if not, I can always put a curse on them," offered Lucy as a suggestion.

Downstairs, Lynn, Sr. and Rita were discussing extra steps they could take in their efforts to try to find Luan.

"Sweetheart, I've been thinking..." began Rita. "You just opened the restaurant, and business is just starting to grow... I'm in a more expendable position, somebody else can fill in for me, that way one of us can remain working, while the other can focus on trying to find Luan."

"That sounds like a good idea," agreed Lynn, Sr. "But, what about our budget?"

"Lisa checked the bank recently, we've got a few months' breathing room," said Rita. "Besides, you really can't afford to just abandon the restaurant. Not now, anyway."

"I suppose you're right, honey," said Lynn, Sr.

"I filled up on gas this morning," said Rita, as she and Lynn, Sr. entered their bedroom. "I'll drop you off at work and the kids at school in the morning, and keep looking around town for Luan myself - by van or by plane."

"I hope your search turns up fruitful," said Lynn Sr.

* * *

At Ronaldo's house, Luan had spent almost the entire day presenting the man a showcase of her various different performing talents, presently including one of her more obscure talents: among the clothing she packed up in her backpack when running away from home was her black and white mime attire and make-up. Ronaldo sat in his large easy chair, watching in amusement as Luan silently performed a pantomime scene before him. She went beyond the typical invisible wall routines that most mimes are infamous for; rather, she pranced about freely in the open area of the living room, indicating that her world is wide, open, and carefree... or, so she thinks. Suddenly, her prancing is reduced to a smaller area, and even smaller; she acts confused and panic-stricken, unsure of what is happening. She begins to wobble around on unsteady ground, as her happy and carefree world is crumbling all around her. She retreats into a corner of the living room, where the furniture in the room obscured the lighting, showing how the world is a rather dark and scary place. She compacts herself amazingly well, almost to the point that she appears to be cramming herself into an invisible box, showing how the darkness of the world is turning her into a shrinking violet. As if on cue, the setting sun outside shining through the large picture window created a trail of light that shot across the room in a diagonal direction, extending into the dark corner Luan had become trapped in: just the sign she was looking for. Slowly, she reached a shaky hand out from her dark containment, placed it just at the beginning of this path of light. She begins to crawl out from the dark corner, following the path of light before her on the floor. As this path of light on the floor widens, she slowly begins to pick herself up from her crawl, showing that she is starting off with baby steps, before taking even bigger, more confident strides, until finally, at the end of the path, she stands tall and proud, facing the direction of the sunlight shining through the window with her arms extended, as if to embrace all of the good the world has to offer.

Luan silhouetted in the setting sunlight after her pantomime was a powerful sight for Ronaldo, as he promptly applauded her performance, "Bravo! Bravo!"

Luan twirled around to face her one-man audience, once again beaming as her closed-lipped grin spread from one ear to another. As Ronaldo continued to applaud, Luan removed her beret, placing it over her heart, while keeping her other hand extended in the air, and took her bow. She was amazed at how in a mere three days, this man went from being a complete stranger, whose intentions she was leery of, to being like a trusted school guidance counselor who managed to coax her out of the shell she was trapping herself in to hide away from the rest of the world.

"You say this is a performance piece you developed by yourself?" He asked.

Still in mime mode, Luan simply smiled and nodded.

"It's wonderful! Amazing!" He said.

Luan's tremendous smile never left her face.

"Would you like my analysis?" He offered.

She extended her finger into the air, as though to gesture that she needed him to spare her a moment. She then brought her fingers to her pursed lips, making tiny little twisting motions, before pulling her fingers away, opening her mouth widely and sucking in a loud inhale of air, signifying that she has unlocked herself from mime mode. "I'd love to hear it," she said.

Ronaldo crossed his legs, and eased back into his chair, "It reminds me a lot of what we were discussing earlier... you're using interpretative movements and physicalities as a way of expressing how, as a performer, you feel the very foundation of your world is coming crumbling all around you, and that it tries to contain you in its darkness and smallness... but that even in the darkest of times, there's still always a glimmer of hope to grab onto, and use it to pull yourself up to the light of day, thus embracing the world for all of its beauty, showing that the darkness can always be conquered."

Luan's jaw dropped in amazement, "That's it! That's exactly it! You get it!"

Ronaldo nodded, "I get it. Don't forget, I am a therapist, after all. I can recognize the complexity of human emotion conveyed so simply in performance art. It's beautiful; simply beautiful."

Luan was so amazed; she knew that mimes were not particularly popular with the masses, and pantomime performances, in general, are not for everybody, but she was so thrilled that somebody other than Maggie and her mopey emo friends was able to interpret the message she was conveying through her physical movements. Her smile continued to widen, as did his.

"Why don't you go get yourself cleaned up, and I'll order us a pizza for tonight," offered Ronaldo.

"I like extra cheese on mine," said Luan.

"That would explain how your humor can be so cheesy," joked Ronaldo, sharing a laugh with Luan.

Luan excused herself into the bathroom to wash away her mime makeup and change back into her ordinary clothing. Ronaldo reached into the pocket of his jeans to pull out his phone, though in doing so, his elbow knocked the remote off of the arm rest of his chair, and onto the floor, where the force of it landing was enough to turn the TV on. The screen revealed to him that the local evening news was underway, with Tucker the newsman reporting on a missing teen case:

_"... for those of you just tuning it, the Royal Woods Police Department have issued an emergency alert for a missing local teenager, fourteen-year-old Luan Loud..."_

A recent photo of Luan soon appeared on the screen, as Tucker resumed his report:

_"Luan is roughly four feet, eight inches tall, with light brown hair, brown eyes, and a prominent overbite with braces. She is believed to have last been seen wearing a white blouse, sporting a large squirting flower, and a knee-length yellow plaid skirt; it is also believed that she could possibly be riding around on a unicycle. We have also just been informed that there is a concern over her mental and emotional well-being, after falling victim to a vicious high school prank that has gone viral on social media. Police and the Loud family are asking anybody with any information to contact the missing person's hotline at the number..."_

Ronaldo picked up the remote and turned off the TV. He could see that Luan clearly underestimated her family entirely: they did, indeed, notice that she was missing, and it was abundantly clear that they are, indeed, looking for her, and wanting to bring her home. He knew he would have to do something about the situation sooner than later... he dialed his phone.

_"Thank you for calling Marino's, may I help you?"_ The pimply voice on the other end asked in the most practiced and robotic manner.

"Yes, I'd like to place an order for delivery..." began Ronaldo.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Loud House, the family was also watching Tucker's report on the news about Luan's disappearance; when her photo appeared on the screen, Baby Lily was delighted to see the familiar face. "Poo-poo! Poo-poo!" she squealed.

_"... Police and the Loud family are asking anybody with any information to contact the missing person's hotline at the number on the bottom of your screen; that's 555-3463. Again, if anybody has any information regarding the whereabouts of fourteen-year-old Luan Loud, contact the missing person's hotline at 555-3463. And now, let's go over to Patchy Drizzle for the weather..."_

Lynn, Sr. turned the TV off.

"Is it just me, or does Luan take the worst pictures you've ever seen?" Lola asked, as the rest of the family just glared at her with disapproving stares. "Just sayin'..."

"At least word's out in the public now; hopefully we can get more of our neighbors and anyone else to keep an eye open for Luan, wherever she may be..." said Lynn, Sr.

"We still need to carry on with our own searches as well," said Rita. "And if anyone has any leads for us, let's stay connected so we'll all know something."

The family arose from the couch, and went about their own business, though Lily remained planted where she was sitting. After the familiar face of her funny sister disappeared from the screen, she realized that she had not seen that face for a long passage of time - longer than she knew how to count. She wormed her way off of the couch, and walked over to the stairs. One by one, she pulled herself up each individual step, until she made it to the second story. Still on her hands and knees, she crawled into the bedroom she knew was where her funny sister stayed, but she instead found the room completely empty and quiet. The sister who would sport the Groucho Marx glasses, project silly noises from her mouth, or make balloon animals is a flash was nowhere to be found.

"Poo-poo?" Lily asked.

She crawled over to the makeshift stage that Luan had set up off to the side of the room, as she remembered this is where older sister would often play.

"Poo-poo?" Lily asked again.

Nothing. No sign of her funny sister anywhere. She then crawled over to the bunk beds on the opposite side of the room, but still saw no sign of the funny sister.

"Poo-poo?" Lily asked once more, with the distinctive sound of sorrow in her voice.

She crawled even closer to look under the bed, to see if maybe her funny sister was playing hide-and-seek with her, but found nothing. She crawled into the middle of the empty room and began to whimper, just as Luna entered.

"Hey, Lil-dude," said Luna, surprised to find her baby sister in the room. "What are you doin' in here?"

Lily just looked over at Luan's empty bunk, then over to her empty stage; it was at that moment that she began to cry. Luna walked over and scooped up her baby sister to cradle in her arms, as she walked over and sat on Luan's still messy and un-made bottom bunk.

"I know how you feel, Lil-dude," said Luna. "I really miss Luan, too."

Lily continued crying, resulting in Luna also shedding a tear over their missing sister; every member of the Loud Family missed Luan for certain, but Lily and Luna missed her most of all. While Lily missed the joy and laughter that only her funny sister could bring about, Luna started to contemplate where she had failed as a big sister: as she thought about it, she had realized that Luan was unusually quiet the night before she went missing - almost a saddened quiet... why did she not say anything? Why did she not ask what was wrong? Why did she not try talking to her sister? Luna snuggled Lily underneath her chin, beginning to feel guilty believing she probably could have prevented Luan from going missing had she reached out and offered a supportive shoulder for her to lean on in the wake of the torment she had endured at the hands of those three, nasty, mean girls who pranked her.


	8. You Can't Go Home Again

Just before the sun had completely set for the evening, an old clunker of a car with a light-up sign on the roof reading 'MARINO'S' had pulled up in front of the small rancher-style house where Ronaldo lived. The delivery boy exited his vehicle with a large, square box in hand, and approached the front door, ringing the bell. Inside, Luan perked at up hearing the door bell, and began to merrily skip over to the door, "That must be the pizza! I'll get it!"

In a panic, Ronaldo made a mad dash for the door, sprinting in front of Luan before she could grab the knob, "No! I mean, look... why don't you go into the kitchen, get us some plates and paper towels, and there's also some grape soda in the fridge. I'll take care of the pizza... after all, I'm the one who has the money to pay for it..."

"Yeah, you're right," said Luan, realizing she had no money on her to pay for the pizza. "Okay, I'll go get everything else."

"Good girl," said Ronaldo, as he watched Luan walk into the kitchen, making sure she was completely out of sight before answering the door.

"Evening," greeted the tall, pimply, delivery boy. "Did you order a large pizza, half pepperoni and Italian sausage, and half extra cheese?"

"Yes, yes, thank you..." said Ronaldo, in a very rushed and short manner, as he took the pizza from the delivery boy, handed him the money, and shut the door.

"Hey, you forgot my tip!" The delivery boy said from outside.

Ronaldo sighed, as he pulled another couple of dollars out of his pocket, and opened the door to give a tip to the delivery boy, "Here you go, and don't spend it all in one place."

Shutting the door again, Ronaldo listened carefully as he heard the delivery boy's footsteps fade away, followed by the sounds of a car door slamming shut, and an engine revving up and speeding off, bringing him another sigh - this time, a sigh of relief. He walked into the kitchen, where he found Luan having already set two places at the table with plates and paper towels, and was presently pouring grape soda into two glasses. Moments later, the two were dining on slices from each of their respective halves of the pizza, while Ronaldo continued with his idle chit-chat, allowing the two to continue opening up to each other.

"Have you ever thought about doing dinner theater?" Ronaldo asked.

Luan actually grimaced and cringed at the question, bringing her paper towel up to her mouth as she answered him, "Even I know that dinner theater is a bottom of the barrel venue for any performer! That's why Mrs. Bernardo ended up being our high school drama teacher, and never went mainstream like she hoped she would."

Luan's repeated covering her mouth with her paper towel intrigued Ronaldo, and he also could not help but notice that she looked incredibly awkward as she was eating - it was almost as if she had difficulty chewing, while trying to keep her lips forced shut. She would occasionally eyeball him, her face tinging with redness and a rather nervous and insecure smile, as she swallowed the mouthful she had just finished chewing.

"What's the matter?" He asked, in an almost paternal-sounding tone. Luan pursed her lips little, shaking her head as if to say it was nothing. But, Ronaldo persisted, "You can tell me."

Luan paused momentarily, once again bringing her paper towel up to her mouth, so as to hide what she was embarrassed of, "It's nothing. Really, it's nothing. Honest."

Ronaldo smiled a little, "It's your teeth, isn't it?"

Luan sighed dejectedly, pulling the paper towel away to reveal small amounts of cheese strung throughout her braces. Ronaldo emitted a small, nasally chuckle through his nose, which only made Luan's face turn even redder, as she turned away from him in embarrassment. He wiped his hand with his own paper towel, reached over, and cupped his hand over hers.

"I'm not laughing at you, Luan," insisted Ronaldo. "I'm laughing with you."

"I'm not even laughing," said Luan, meekly.

Ronaldo pulled his hand away to sip on his grape soda, "It really is nothing to be embarrassed about... lots of children have to wear braces..."

Luan nodded, "I know... I've just gotten a little self-conscious about it over the years... it was worse when I first got them put on, I couldn't eat anything without them tearing up the insides of my lips, and then I'd be bleeding all over my food..."

"I see that isn't the case anymore," said Ronaldo.

"No, but there are still certain things I can't seem to eat without it getting stuck in my braces, like pizza, corn on the cob, apples..." continued Luan. "Some of my younger siblings think it's funny to see whatever can get stuck in my braces, like my little sister, Lana - she just loves gross stuff... but, my older sisters find it disgusting - especially my roommate, Luna, she's easily grossed out. And my mom's a dental hygienist, so she always makes a big deal out of it."

Since Luan had casually mentioned her family again, Ronaldo saw this as an opportunity to resume practicing a little more psychology on her, "It really is a shame that your family won't support you in your hobbies... your goals... your dreams... your ambitions..."

Luan never said any such thing about her family; all she said was that her family often found her excessive joking around, cracking puns, and playing pranks to be annoying, and that she felt they were fed up with her because of it.

"You're so talented, Luan," continued Ronaldo. "It's such a shame they hold you back like that. I would think that any loving family would be very proud of you, and want you to go far in life."

Luan was feeling so confused; she never said any of these things about her family, but the way Ronaldo was telling it so matter of factly made it sound like what he was saying was actually true. She was still very vulnerable during the situation - he could see that, and was using it to his advantage. Still, she was at a loss of words.

After the two were finished with their pizza, Ronaldo cleared off the table for them, "Are there any other talents you haven't shown me yet?"

Luan got to thinking - in the past two days, she has demonstrated her stand-up routines, clowning acts, and pantomime, and has also shown him how she is training herself in other areas of performing, such as improvisation and stage acting. She thought it over, until finally, she did remember one other talent of hers, "I can do ventriloquism!"

"Really?" Ronaldo asked, sounding impressed. "That seems like that would a lot harder than it looks! Are you any good?"

"Well," Luan began, "I'm no Edgar Bergen or Shari Lewis, but I think I'm decent enough..."

"This I've got to see!" Ronaldo said, as he placed the dirty dishes into the sink to let them soak in the warm, soapy water.

"I'll be right back," said Luan.

"I'll be right here," said Ronaldo.

Luan dashed back into the bedroom for her backpack and began to rummage around in it, until she noticed that something was missing. She pulled out her favorite joke book, her clothes, her toothbrush, her hair brush, and everything else she brought with her, but quickly came to the bottom of her now-empty backpack, and to a startling realization: "Mr. Coconuts! I forgot Mr. Coconuts! How could I have done such a thing?!"

Luan was on the verge tears; Mr. Coconuts was no mere ventriloquist dummy, he was practically her soulmate, and in her impulse of packing up and running away from home, she did not realize that she had inadvertently left him behind. She could not live without Mr. Coconuts, she had to go back and get him... moreso than that, she had to just go home... She was so torn; she had befriended Ronaldo in such a short span of time, and he has become such a great deal of encouragement and support for her... but she also realized that in spite of all of this, he is not family. She reconsidered her original plan of running away from home and joining the circus... she was still feeling like it would be the only place in the world she could fit into, while also living out her dream of performing for people and spreading joy and laughter... not to mention she was a natural and experienced clown - that was an advantage she already had... Still, Mr. Coconuts was very much a part of her, and she needed to go back to him... and, if that meant having to return to her unloving, uncaring, and unsupportive family who wanted nothing to do with her, that was a sacrifice she was willing to make to be with him again.

Ronaldo was returning to the living room, anxious to see another one of Luan's talents, when she slowly approached him taking a seat in his big easy chair.

"I'm ready! Astound me!" He said.

"Ronaldo?" Luan asked.

"Yes, Luan?" Ronaldo responded.

"I think..." she began, hesitantly. "I think I need to go home... can you give me a ride?"

"Go home?!" Ronaldo asked in surprise, as his upper body sprang forward.

"I... I forgot Mr. Coconuts..." said Luan.

"Mr. Coconuts?" Ronaldo asked, sounding very confused.

"He... he's my soulmate!" Luan said.

"Your soulmate?!" Ronaldo asked, his voice rising.

"I know he may be just a wooden dummy to most people," continued Luan. "But he's a part of me..."

"But, but... you... you can't go home," said Ronaldo. "There's nothing back there for you, you don't belong there!"

"But I can't live without Mr. Coconuts, I need him!" Luan said, her voice now quivering from separation anxiety.

Ronaldo jumped out of his seat, his voice raising to nearly a yell, "You're a fourteen-year-old girl, you're too old for that kind of childish crap!"

Luan was frightened by Ronaldo's sudden outburst, until what he just said struck her odd, "Wait a minute... how do you know I'm fourteen?"

Ronaldo suddenly remembered that the news report about Luan's disappearance gave her age as fourteen. But, he could not let her know that - he could not let her know that her family is actively searching for her, and that the police have gotten involved with the search. He had to avoid sending her back home at all cost. He had to quickly turn things around if he wanted to ensure that his scheme was completely followed through.

"You... you're tired..." said Ronaldo. "You've had a really rough weekend, and you've been performing all day... you're just tired, and restless... I'll tell you what, you don't have to show me anymore of your talents tonight; I've seen enough for one day... matter of fact, how about I show you one of MY talents?"

Luan was more confused now, "What sort of talents do you have?"

"Did I ever mention I happen to be an excellent hypnotist?" Ronaldo asked.

"You can do hypnotism?" Luan asked. She enjoyed dabbling in a little magic herself on occasion, but hypnotism was something she was always skeptical of, especially since she has tried it out on different family members before in the past, but it never seemed to work.

"Trust me," said Ronaldo. "I can put you into such a deep, relaxing state, you'll feel so refreshed and recharged, you'll be like a new woman!"

Still, Luan was not so sure, "I don't know..."

"Just sit tight, I'll be right back..." said Ronaldo, as he stepped into the bedroom.

* * *

Back at the Loud House, Rita was on the phone with Bonnie's mother, Cassandra. After learning all about what happened at school, she was terribly disappointed in her daughter's behavior, and what it has led to, so she had called up Rita to offer up her own condolences about the situation:

"_I really don't know what to say, Mrs. Loud_," said Cassandra. "_My husband and I have been having such a hard time with Bonnie as she's gotten older and more unruly. We never know what to do with her, she just rebels against us so much._"

Rita responded, "Whatever the case may be, the fact remains, your daughter and her friends played this vicious prank on my daughter, and now we can't find her."

"_And I am profoundly sorry that it's come to this_," said Cassandra. "_Whatever we can do to help you find Luan and bring her home, we will, but I can assure you that Bonnie is not going to be getting away with this, nor will she ever pull another prank like this on anybody ever again_."

"I appreciate you trying to fix this, Mrs. Parker," said Rita.

"_Well, I just wanted to call you and let you know that this will not go unpunished_," said Cassandra.

"Thank you, Mrs. Parker," said Rita.

The two mothers discontinued their phone conversation. Lynn, Sr. had just finished preparing dinner for the family; while in the kitchen, he could faintly hear the sound of his wife's voice engaged in a conversation with somebody - he hoped this was an indication that there may have finally been a break in the case: "Any good news?" He asked, as he stepped into the living room, removing his apron and oven mitts.

"That was Mrs. Parker, the mother of that Bonnie girl who instigated all of this," said Rita. "I'm pleased that she's taking this very seriously, she said they have a hard time keeping her disciplined these days, but they don't know what possessed her to pull this prank."

"What about Luan?" Lynn, Sr. asked.

"She said they would do whatever they could to help us look for her," said Rita. "Whether they actually will, or not... I don't know..."

Lynn, Sr. was disappointed; he had hoped that he was coming in the living room to some uplifting news regarding Luan's whereabouts, "I really wish we knew where she was, or if she's okay..."

* * *

Back at Ronaldo's house, he and Luan were sitting across from each other. He had dug out from one of his night table drawers a shiny, silver pen - a tool used in his psychiatry studies for putting someone under the effects of hypnosis. With Luan now in his hands, he began to put her under:

"Look at this pen, Luan," said Ronaldo, in the most calming, soothing, reassuring voice he could. "Just concentrate on this pen... all of your thoughts are on this pen..."

As Luan's gaze was being sucked into this shiny pen, she could feel herself losing consciousness.

"You're getting very, very sleepy..." continued Ronaldo. "Your eyelids are getting very heavy... they're so heavy, you can't keep them open... you're now entering a deep, deep sleep state..."

Luan fell into a sleeping trance. Ronaldo placed the pen on the kitchen table, and proceed to make various different lunging gestures at her to test and see if she really was in a deep hypnotic state. She never flinched at a single gesture; she remained asleep sitting across from him. Now, he was ready to make his biggest move yet:

"Luan..." he said, still in a reassuring voice, "you're a lost girl... you're all alone in this world... a world that doesn't understand you... a world that doesn't want you... a world where you don't belong... nobody loves you... nobody cares for you..."

A tear ran down Luan's face.

"Except for one person... ME!" Ronaldo continued. "You're not lost anymore, because you have me... you're not all alone in this world anymore, because you have me... I love you... I care for you... and you belong with me..."

Another tear rolled down Luan's face.

"Forget about your family, Luan," Ronaldo continued, "because you have no family... I am your family... I'm the only one in the world you can turn to in trust... and when you wake up, you're going to realize this, and you'll feel happiness that you've never known before... you'll feel happiness that you've never dreamed of before... you'll be happy, Luan. You'll be happy."

Ronaldo could see that while still under, Luan was slowly starting to reveal a small smile... he knew it was time to bring her out, so he brought up his fingers.

"I'm going to count to three, and snap my fingers," said Ronaldo. "And when I do, you'll be awake... and you'll be a whole new woman... you'll know the truth about who you really are, and where you really belong. One... two... three..."

Ronaldo snapped his fingers, and Luan awoke on cue. She sat in her chair for a brief moment, studying the face of the round, tan man with the bushy dark hair on his head and face, and the frameless spectacles he was wearing. After studying the face for a moment, an even bigger smile began spreading across her face, as her eyes widened with glee...

"Ronaldo... Ronaldo!" Luan squealed, as she leapt out of her chair, throwing herself around his girth, and hugging him tightly, as he too wrapped his arms around her. He got what he wanted - sooner than anticipated.


	9. When You're Gone

Despite being such a large and incredibly dysfunctional family, the disappearance of Luan had such a profound impact on the Louds that it had turned their lives upside-down. It had already been over three days since she went missing, but with each passing day, it felt more and more like an eternity. Although they were hopeful that by getting the police involved, and broadcasting a call for help in looking for her to the public, that they would stand a better chance in finding her sooner than later; unfortunately, in spite of these efforts being made, they still had no clues, no leads, and no tips. It not only affected just the Loud family, but those close to them as well. The following afternoon at Royal Woods Elementary, Lincoln was having lunch with Clyde and Ronnie Anne, but still not knowing anything about where Luan is or what happened to her made it difficult for them to eat anything.

"I can't believe I'm even saying this," Lincoln began, "but, I really miss Luan cracking jokes every day... it's strangely quiet in the house without her."

"You know, when I first met her, I thought she was just a really big dork," confessed Ronnie Anne. "But, after I got to know her, I knew that she was alright."

"Yeah, her sense of humor is an ACQUIRED TASTE," said Clyde. "If you can STOMACH her jokes."

A stunned Lincoln and Ronnie Anne cocked their heads toward Clyde, though even he was taken aback by what he just said.

"Wow, I guess her sense of humor has rubbed off on me, a little," said Clyde.

Lincoln revealed a small half smile, "She'd be proud of you, Clyde."

At another table, the Young Morticians Club met up with a sullen Lucy. Ordinarily, like herself, her fellow goth friends preferred to maintain an emotional detachment from the rest of the 'normal' world, but they, too, could sense the loss that one of their own was feeling.

"Lucy, is there anything we can do to help in regards to your missing sister?" Bertrand asked.

"Thank you, guys; I really appreciate the gesture, but just the same, I'd rather find my sister alive, than plan her funeral," said Lucy.

That, surprisingly, was not what her fellow club members meant; they may be morbidly fascinated with death, but they, too, were wanting Lucy's sister to be found alive and well. Haiku offered something a little more uplifting:

_In this vast wide world_  
_She must be out there somewhere_  
_And will be brought home_

"That was a haiku I just wrote for you," said Haiku, while placing a caring hand on her best friend's shoulder.

"Thank you, Haiku," said Lucy.

* * *

Similarly, at Royal Woods High, Benny was having a lot of trouble getting through that day's play rehearsal. While in position on the stage -this time surrounded by a partial cardboard castle set- he brought his hand to his mouth, "Summon my fool!"

"The fool?" Queen Juney asked, sounding aghast.

Although the role of the king and queen's servant was played by the same drama student, a different student was brought into the scene to understudy for Luan in her absence. "Presenting your fool, your highness," said the student playing the servant.

"Very good, servant," croaked King Benny, dismissing his servant.

"At your service, your majesty," said Luan's understudy. "Dost thou wish for a moment of entertainment?"

Standing by back stage, Mrs. Bernardo buried her face into her hands to silence her groans; the understudy did not emote very well, and the delivery of his lines sounded akin to a student awkwardly reading aloud in class. Unable to connect with the other student now playing the part that was originally conceived specifically for his best friend, Benny stumbled with his next lines:

"Indeed, fool. I wish thee to go to the village... I mean... Indeed, fool. But, not for myself or my lady. I wish thee to go to the people... the village, go out into the village to... to... entertain the people... and, uh... uh..."

Mrs. Bernardo's face turned crooked watching Benny stumbling through the day's rehearsal, as she called out to him in dramatic fashion, "Are you QUITE alright, Bennyyyy?"

Benny merely hung his head, while Mrs. Bernardo and Juney shared concerned looks, and the understudy just looked plain confused.

* * *

Now that word was out to the public, Rita had changed her mind about continuing her own searches for Luan, and decided it would be better to stay at home, just in case a friend, neighbor, or anybody else happened to call at any given moment with any information regarding her whereabouts. After the school day was over, Lori had all of her siblings packed into Vanzilla so they could carry on with additional searches of their own; she covered as many roads as she could, while the others kept watchful eyes out in all directions from where they were seated, but once again, they turned up nothing. Losing daylight, they swung by Lynn's Table to pick up their father, and returned home, hoping Rita might have some updates to share; when they rushed into the house, they nearly mugged her for the good news they were hoping for...

"We have been getting phone calls all day... just not the calls we've been hoping for," said Rita.

Everybody's faces dropped.

"Nobody's called about Luan?" Lynn, Sr. asked.

"It's mostly just been friends and neighbors letting us know that they heard about her disappearance on the news, and will be keeping an eye out for her," said Rita.

Although it was comforting to know practically all of Royal Woods was aware of the situation, and were helping to find Luan, it still did not bring them any closer to actually finding her, thus offering the Loud family rather little closure. That evening, at the dinner table, there still was a lack of an appetite among the family; the family meals were always noisy and full of garbled conversation, but Luan always managed to chime in with one of her jokes or puns at any comment made by anyone at the table that she thought had humorous potential - without that, dinner felt unusually strange and awkward.

"You know, Clyde actually made a joke that would have impressed Luan today," said Lincoln, to break the silence at the table. "He said her sense of humor is an ACQUIRED TASTE, if you can STOMACH her jokes."

There was a weak chuckle among the rest of the family, knowing that would be the kind of joke that Luan would love to make.

"Remember the time we accidentally hurt her feelings, and made her want to cancel her show at the Chortle Portal?" Lori asked.

"You had to bring that up?" Lincoln asked.

"What about the time a few years ago, I was out in the yard, practicing my kicks, and my football got stuck in her braces?" Lynn, Jr. asked

"I'll never forget the time she wanted me to record a rimshot for her to use as a sound effect in her web vids," said Luna. "I must have crashed over 200 rimshots before I finally busted one she said sounded just right!"

"Or the time she was helping me choose spring colors for a dress I was making, but she told me not to pick green," said Leni.

"Green is not a creative color," added Lola, while Lana frowned, and Lisa furrowed her brow.

"She really could be a perfectionist, couldn't she?" Lincoln asked.

"Quite so; her ability to carefully orchestrate elaborate pranks down to every single precise detail in anticipation of whom in the family would fall for which prank was amazingly impressive, in spite of the near-fatal consequences they could bring about," added Lisa.

After another moment of prolonged silence (and a belch from Lily):

"Isn't it a bit premature to be speaking of Luan in the past tense?" Lucy asked.

The rest of the family sighed aloud like Lucy usually does.

Another day had come and gone, and as evening fell, the Loud family still had yet to receive any word from anybody who may have seen Luan. It was becoming increasingly discouraging for them to say the least; despite there being a dozen family members still occupying the Loud House, it actually seemed rather empty, and even a little lonely without her. Without her jokes, puns, and pranks, the house was lacking in a sense of joy and cheerfulness - indeed, it just was not the same.

* * *

At Ronaldo's house, he was ready to call it a day, and turn it in for the night; he shuffled into his bedroom in a t-shirt and boxer shorts, turned back the covers, and crawled into bed.

"Are you coming to bed, dear?" He called out into his master bathroom.

"Be right there!" The voice called back.

From out of his master bathroom and into the bedroom came Luan, in her little yellow nightgown, and her long, wavy hair falling below her waist; she looked so beautiful to Ronaldo. Although he had to speed up the process, his scheme worked exactly as planned. Using simple psychology when she was at her most vulnerable and insecure stage, he was able to not only build up her trust and self-esteem, but also build up doubt in her mind about the family she had left behind, and that they did not love or want her - that running away and leaving them behind was the right thing for her to do. Once that was achieved, he was able to use his training in hypnotism to further alter her mind, in effect, basically gaslighting and brainwashing her into a different person. And now, she was all his, and his alone. She turned back the covers, and crawled into bed as well, as she and Ronaldo lay facing each other, staring into each other's eyes. He reached over and began to caress her bare arm, giving her little goose pimples.

"We're very, very lucky, you know?" Ronaldo asked her.

"We are?" Luan asked.

He nodded, "Here we were... two people, all alone in the world, with nobody to understand the struggles we've gone through in this dark, scary world... not a place for us to fit into a world that doesn't want us... and then we found each other... and now we're complete..."

"Isn't it wonderful how fate has brought us together like this?" Luan asked.

"It sure is," said Ronaldo.

Luan revealed her big braced smile, while Ronaldo began caressing her face. When she smiled, the prettiest little dimples appeared in her cheeks, and Ronaldo rested his thumb into the dimple on the cheek he had been caressing.

"You're really, very special to me," he told her.

"Am I really?" She asked.

Ronaldo nodded, causing Luan to demure and blush, "You're like the daughter I never had, you bring a ray of sunshine into my drab life... happiness, joy, and laughter... you are my world..."

"It really makes me feel special, when you tell me I am special..." said Luan, in the dorkiest way imaginable.

Ronaldo smiled and chuckled, moving Luan closer to him until their foreheads were pressed together, "You know... when two special people are special to one another... they do special things together..."

"Like what?" Luan asked.

Ronaldo playfully shrugged, "They can have fun together..."

"I love to have fun!" Luan said.

"Then, why don't we have a little fun together right now?" Ronaldo asked.

"Okay!" Luan said, as Ronaldo kissed her forehead; inside the master bathroom, the squirting flower fell off of her blouse, fluttering down to the floor.

* * *

Back at the Loud House, the family was having yet another sleepless night. Luna could not stand the dead silence in her room any longer; with no headphones, or any of the weird sounds that her younger sister makes in her sleep to her offer her any sort of white noise to help her sleep, she was on pins and needles - she had to have something to kill the silence, or she would lose what was left of her mind. She hopped down to the floor from her upper bunk, and started skipping through her stereo until she found a song that she felt would call out to her, which finally emerged from her shuffle, courtesy of Avril Lavigne:

_I always needed time on my own_  
_I never thought I'd_  
_Need you there when I cry_  
_And the days feel like years when I'm alone_  
_And the bed where you lie_  
_Is made up on your side_  
_When you walk away_  
_I count the steps that you take_  
_Do you see how much I need you right now?_

An emotionally distraught Luna began singing along with the chorus:

_When you're gone_  
_The pieces of my heart are missin' you_  
_When you're gone_  
_The face I came to know is missin', too_  
_When you're gone_  
_The words I need to hear_  
_To always get me through the day_  
_And make it okay_  
_I miss you_

The music filtered through the paper-thin walls of the Loud House, as other family members began singing along from their beds as well, like Lori and Leni:

_I've never felt this way before_  
_Everything that I do_  
_Reminds me of you_

Lisa and Lily join in from their beds:

_And the clothes you left, they lie on the floor_  
_And they smell just like you_  
_I love the things that you do_  
_("Poo-poo! Poo-poo!")_

Lincoln joins in from his bed:

_When you walk away_  
_I count the steps that you take_  
_Do you see how much I need you right now?_

The entire family sings along to the chorus from their own beds:

_When you're gone_  
_The pieces of my heart are missin' you_  
_When you're gone_  
_The face I came to know is missin', too_  
_When you're gone_  
_The words I need to hear_  
_To always get me through the day_  
_And make it okay_  
_I miss you_

The twins sang along from their beds:

_We were made for each other_  
_Out here forever_  
_I know we were_  
_Yeah, yeah_

From their own beds, Lynn, Jr. also sang along to the melody, while Lucy more or less spoke the lyrics in her deadpan monotone:

_And all I ever wanted was for you to know_  
_Everything I do, I give my heart and soul_  
_I can hardly breathe; I need to feel you here with me_  
_Yeah_

The entire family sang along to the chorus once more:

_When you're gone_  
_The pieces of my heart are missin' you_  
_When you're gone_  
_The face I came to know is missin', too_  
_When you're gone_  
_The words I need to hear_  
_Will always get me through the day_  
_And make it okay_  
_I miss you_

Luna wept as she buried her tear-flooded eyes into the palms of her hands, "Where are you, sis?"

* * *

Ronaldo and Luan laid wrapped in each other arms, both of them breathing heavily as they cleared their minds, while he playfully ran his fingers through her long hair.

"Wow! Now that was fun!" Luan panted.

"It certainly was..." Ronaldo also panted, while stroking her scalp with the tips of his fingernails. "You know what I'm thinking?"

"What?" Luan asked.

"I'm thinking we should give ourselves a fresh start," said Ronaldo.

"What do you mean?" Luan asked.

"Just... start all over," said Ronaldo. "Find ourselves a new town, settle into a new house, and just start a whole new life for the two of us..."

"Where would we go?" Luan asked.

Ronaldo thought about it for a moment, trying to think of some place the two of them could relocate to where a middle-aged man and a teenaged girl would not look too suspicious - and preferably, some place where it would not be likely that people would be looking for her. "Somewhere quiet... and peaceful... where we can just spend our lives in tranquility and enjoy each other's company... maybe somewhere out west, close to the Rocky Mountains, where there's a lot of open space, and beautiful scenery to surround our idyllic existence..."

Luan smiled, "Ooh that sounds so nice."

"And after we've settled down," Ronaldo continued, "I'll manage your show business career. We'll come up with a new stage name for you, get you some exposure, and you'll be absolutely sensational."

Luan had stars in her eyes, "Oh, that would be my dream come true!"

The two hugged onto each other even tighter, as he, too, smiled, "We'll start making our plans in the morning."

Realizing that carrying out their new plans would require Luan to actually step foot outside of the house during a time when there is a big search for her -and with the police involved- Ronaldo knew that he was going to have to do something to change her appearance, so it would be less likely for anybody to recognize her out in public before they skip town. The following morning, he gathered up everything she had brought with her in her backpack, tossed them into his fireplace, and burned them. He then spent much of that day giving her a new makeover to help prepare her for the fresh start he told her about, which included him buying her some new clothes from Reininger's at Royal Woods Mall, and doing his best to cut her long hair into a much shorter style. All that remained was to pack up and move out, which they would spend the rest of the week doing, and by week's end, Ronaldo rented a small moving van for them to load up their boxes into.


	10. In Hot Pursuit!

By week's end, the Loud family was still no closer to finding Luan, or even discovering any kind of lead that would help them find her; some of the family members were beginning to assume the worst. Given her sensitivity, they worried if the mean-spirited prank against her may have driven her to her demise - hearing stories in the news of children and teens who have committed suicide as a result of being bullied by their peers at school made such a scenario seem very plausible to them. Lynn, Sr. and Rita refused to believe that Luan would do such a thing, and they tried to hold onto some shred of hope that Luan would, eventually, be found alive.

Saturday afternoon came, and with still no clues regarding Luan's whereabouts, some of the Loud siblings tried to take their minds off of the problem, if only to give themselves a mental refresh. Sadly, it was easiest for Leni to take her mind off the problem - not because she did not care about her sister's well-being, but being absent-minded with a very short memory, she found herself forgetting all about Luan being missing, and decided to meet up with Chaz for the afternoon. Wanting to get out of the house for a while herself, Lori texted Bobby about them meeting up at the movies. Neither Lynn, Sr. or Rita were particularly keen on the idea of Lori taking Vanzilla, in case something came up that required a vehicle for an emergency, but she promised to keep her phone close by in case somebody needed to call her.

Elsewhere, Luna had joined Sam for a quick sip at the organic juice bar. Ordinarily, Luna was not a big fan of their juice selections, especially many of the ingredients they use -such as fish oil- but after trying a few different samples, she found that she could actually stomach some of them - particularly the more fruity flavors. Luna and Sam sat out on the veranda sipping their juices under their umbrella. Aware of the situation, Sam was very concerned about Luna and her family.

"Have you guys heard any further updates from anybody?" Sam asked. "Any tips or leads from the authorities? Neighbors who may have seen her? Anything?"

"Goose egg, dude," said Luna with a sad sigh, as she began punishing herself. "I should have been a better sister to her..."

Sam was confused, "What do you mean?"

"I could tell somethin' was up with her the night she took flight," said Luna. "She was quiet... too quiet... I kinda didn't think much about it at the time, but my gut told me she had the blues... and then I saw that meme of her on social media... if only I had known..."

"You really can't blame yourself for that, Lunes," said Sam. "I mean... maybe she was just too humiliated and embarrassed to talk to anyone about it..."

"Maybe... she's really sensitive, you know?" Luna said.

"Well... surely she must know you care about her and would have talked to her about," said Sam.

"I don't think she does... we fight a lot more than we used to..." admitted Luna. "I love all of my sibs, Sam... but truth be told, Luan was my BFF... and I took it for granted... I pushed her away... I don't think I could live with myself if anything happened to her."

Luna leaned forward in her seat, resting her elbows on the table, and her face into the palms of hands, completely ignoring her juice. Sam, likewise, was having difficulty sipping her juice as well - her heart shared in Luna's sorrow, but she tried to remain optimistic, hoping it would help reassure her grief-stricken girlfriend. "Don't give up hope, Luna..."

"Is there even any hope to give up?" Luna asked.

"I'm sure she'll turn up," offered Sam. "She's surely out there, somewhere..."

"I really hope so, dude. I just wish I knew where... I just wish I knew somethin'... if only we had a sign..." Luan looked to the heavens, shaking her hands in frustration, "Just gimme some kinda sign, gurl!"

A sign is exactly what they would receive - more like an omen. Down the street, Sam spotted a young girl stepping out of the post office who intrigued her: this girl looked to be about their age, was rather thin, and had a pronounced overbite with braces, much like Luan; the major difference was her hair and clothing. This girl's hair was cut into an unevenly short bobbed style, while also sporting a floppy, black toboggan cap over her head. Her clothing also consisted of a charcoal gray hoodie, and a pair of short, distressed, denim shorts. She was also wearing a pair of very large glasses, much like Lisa's or Clyde's.

"Matter of fact... that girl kinda looks like Luan, a little..." said Sam.

Luna snapped her head in the opposite direction, "Where? Where?"

"Over there, she just stepped out of the post office..." Sam pointed out.

The girl pulled a borrowed phone out of her hoodie pocket, and dialed the person on the other end, "I'm leaving the post office now," she said to the other person.

_"Did you ask them to hold the mail until further notice?"_ The male voice on the other end asked.

"Yeah," she said. "They said whenever you open a new P.O. box address to call them with that information, and they'll have it forwarded to the new box."

_"Great,"_ said the male voice on the other end. _"Come on home and we'll finish loading up the van."_

"Okay!" The girl cheerfully said, before pocketing the phone.

All of this, meanwhile, Luna studied the girl very carefully: growing up together with a strong, tight bond all their lives, Luna knew Luan's physical appearance intimately - perhaps moreso than she did any of her other siblings. Despite the unrecognizable clothing, glasses, and uneven hair style the girl was sporting, everything else about her set off red flags in Luna's mind: her hair color, her skin tone, her body structure, and her facial features were all too familiar to Luna's memory. The biggest indicator of all that tipped off the rocker was the girl's pronounced overbite with the braces across her bucked front teeth... that was the dead give-away: "It IS Luan!"

Luna shot out of her chair, and ran across the street, nearly getting herself killed by oncoming traffic, as Sam watched in shock. Once Luna made it to the other side, she ran down toward the end of the block to the post office, calling out for her sister, "LUAN! LUAN!"

Hearing somebody calling out the name, the girl looked up, saw Luna running toward her, and panicked; she took off, turning the corner, and began running for her life. Luna immediately pulled her own phone from her skirt pocket, and dialed Lori's number. Meanwhile, Lori sat with Bobby in the darkened theater, hoping that seeing a movie with her boyfriend would help cheer her up, but it did little to take her mind off of the situation. Startled by her ringtone, other movie goers hurled words of disapproval as her phone disrupted their movie experience. She apologized, as she pulled her phone from her shorts pocket, and saw Luna's name, face, and number on the illuminated screen, which she quickly swiped to accept the call.

"What is it?" Lori asked, answering Luna's call.

"Lori, I found Luan, I'm on her tail!" Luna said.

"What?!" Lori asked, as others continued to shush her. "Where is she?! Where are you?!"

"I just caught her leavin' the post office, but she took off up Bleaker Street!" Luna said. "I'm still chasin' after her!"

"I'm on my way right now, I'll get everyone else!" Lori said, ignoring the flurry of shushes, as she pocketed her phone, "Luna found Luan, I've gotta run!"

Lori sprang from her seat and flew out of the theater, leaving a stunned Bobby behind, as other theater goers were relieved to be rid of the noise maker.

Luna continued the chase, repeatedly calling out to her sister, "LUAN! LUAN! WAIT, IT'S ME! IT'S ME, LUNA! YOUR SISTER! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? STOP!"

Being naturally energetic, Luan was able to pick up her pace and run like lightning. Luna, however, was quickly growing tired, as her heavy boots weighed her feet down, causing her leg muscles to strain, but she was determined to stay on her sister's tail, even as she watched as Luan was quickly exiting the city limits, and entering the suburbs. Farther and farther she ran, until Luna could see Luan no longer. She finally paused by a tree planted along the edge of the sidewalk to catch her breath; leaning up against the trunk, she cursed her footwear, "Why do I even wear these bloody things?"

Gasping for air, the rocker squeezed the bridge of her nose in distress, but as fate would have it, she heard a loud screeching noise coming up from behind her, and saw Lori tearing down the road in Vanzilla with the rest of the Loud family in tow. Lynn, Sr. rolled down the window, and stuck his head out, "Did you find her?"

"I just lost her," huffed Luna. "She was headin' for the 'burbs that way!"

Rita opened the side door and motioned for Luna to hop in, which she promptly did, while Lori pushed the pedal to the metal and took off for the direction Luna was pointing out.

Back at Ronaldo's house, the small moving van he had rented was parked on the street in front of the property, and an ever-growing stack of boxes sat in the driveway in front of the garage. Aside from much of the furniture itself, not much was left in the house that still needed to be packed, and he had begun to load up the boxes that were already in the driveway into the back of the van. After placing a few of the boxes into the van, Luan came running down the sidewalk in front of the houses.

"RONALDO! RONALDO!" She cried, as she raced up to him, bumping into the box he had in his arms, sending the glasses flying off her face.

"What is it, dear?" He asked. "What's wrong?"

Luan struggled for a moment, but eventually her breath caught up to her enough that she could speak, "You gotta help me! There's somebody after me!"

"Who?" He asked, suddenly feeling on edge. "It isn't anybody in a uniform, is it?"

"No, it's some butchy-looking punk girl! She started chasing me after I left the post office!" Luan said.

Luan had previously discussed her roommate sister to Ronaldo in detail, which made him figure that she was who she was now speaking of, based on the description. He quietly cursed his lapse of judgement; he was so sure that by giving Luan a makeover and disguise, she would not be so easily recognized by anybody. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

Without even bothering to finish packing the rest of the boxes into the van, Ronaldo simply dropped the box he was carrying, closed the back of the van, and instructed Luan to hop into the cab, just as Vanzilla turned onto his street.

"There she is!" Luna pointed out, as they watched the two of them get into their moving van.

"Who is that man?" Rita asked.

"Is somebody kidnapping her?" Lynn, Sr. asked.

Ronaldo fired the van up, and shot down the street in a mad haste.

"THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!" Lincoln yelled.

"STEP ON IT!" Lynn, Jr. yelled.

Vanzilla accelerated even faster as Lori was practically smashing the pedal with her foot; the acceleration causing the rest of the family to become practically swallowed up into their seats.

"CALL 911! CALL 911!" Lola shrieked.

"SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE!" Lana yelled.

"I'm getting the number off of that van," said Lynn, Sr. "Honey, you get the police on the line and tell them what's going on..."

Rita whipped out her cellphone and called up the police department.

The moving van bearing Ronaldo and Luan was racing out of the neighborhood, blowing through a four-way stop sign, while Lori remained in hot pursuit, rattling her passengers around in their seats. The moving van then tore out of the neighborhood, and onto a major road, while Lori followed behind, without signalling for a turn. Once on the highway, the moving van then tore across three lanes of traffic, while Lori did the same, also failing to signal her lane changes, much to her father's concern.

"YOU ARE BREAKING SO MANY LAWS RIGHT NOW, YOUNG LADY!" Lynn, Sr. exclaimed.

"YOU WANT TO SAVE LUAN, DON'T YOU?" Lori argued.

"KEEP GOING!" Lynn, Sr. said.

As the moving van sped down the highway, Ronaldo kept eyeballing Vanzilla chasing after them in the side and rear mirrors, while Luan tightened her grip on her seat, not knowing what was going on, but feeling terrified about the entire ordeal. Seeing a side road coming up on the right, Ronaldo tore across the three lanes of traffic again to make an exit, while Vanzilla continued down the highway past it. The rest of the Loud family watched as the moving van gave them the slip.

"They're getting away!" Lynn, Jr. said.

"Honey, you missed them!" Lynn, Sr. said, losing sight of the moving van as they passed a thicket of woods that separated the highway from the side road.

"Don't worry about it, I've got a plan!" Lori said, as she sped off for another exit.

Also losing sight of Vanzilla due to the thicket of trees, Ronaldo and Luan breathed a sigh of relief. "I think we lost them," he said.

"Who were those crazy people?" Luan asked.

The moving van was approaching another four-way stop sign, so Ronaldo pulled over for a moment to give them time to regain their composure. Seeing that she was extremely shaken up by what had just happened, he reached over and began caressing the top of Luan's head, as well as her cheek in an attempt to calm her down, "Don't worry, we'll just take a little detour... take a more scenic route... we can still be out of town before sun down..."

Luan's trembling gradually began to subside, as she nodded, "Okay..."

"We may not make it to any particular destination tonight," he said, still caressing her. "But, we can surely find ourselves a cozy little motel to spend the night, and then just pick right back up again first thing in the morning."

Luan smiled and released a contented sigh through her nose. But just before Ronaldo could resume their drive, Vanzilla came screeching into the intersection from where Lori knew of another exit that would undoubtly bring them down another secondary road that would intersect with the road the Loud family saw the moving van drive down. Lori pulled in front of said moving van and parked Vanzilla to prevent Ronaldo from moving forward, taking he and Luan totally by surprise. With no time to lose, the Loud family disembarked from Vanzilla and rushed over to the passenger side of the moving van, each of them banging on the locked door and trying to open it to free Luan, who looked at them in horror. With the whole family on one side, Ronaldo grabbed Luan by the shoulder, and pulled her out of the cab on the driver side for them to take off on foot. Seeing this, the family continued to pursue them; the athletic and speedy Lynn, Jr. sprinted ahead the rest of the pack, cutting off Ronaldo and Luan in their tracks.

"Not so fast there, punk!" Lynn, Jr. yelled.

With the rest of the family closing in from behind, Ronaldo went on the defense, "I know what this is about... but you're not taking her away from me!"

Ronaldo grabbed Luan in a choke hold, much to the family's astonishment. Although a wimpy and cowardly man by nature, seeing his daughter in a perilous situation was enough for Lynn, Sr. to actually grow a back bone as he began confronting Ronaldo:

"Sir, I am not usually a man who is easily persuaded to violence," said Lynn, Sr. "But you have my daughter, and I'm not about to let you get away with her."

Luan was completely dumbfounded by this strange man calling her his daughter, as she fearfully wrapped her arms around his large waist. Ronaldo put his hand into the pocket of his jeans, and pointed his finger at the Loud family, faking possessing a gun.

"All of you just back off," he barked, his grip around Luan's throat growing tighter and tighter, while her grip around his waist also increased in strength and intensity. "She's mine, she belongs to me, and the best thing the lot of you can do is just turn back now and leave us be. And don't try to follow us, or you'll all get it!"

"That's right, you heard him, just leave us alone!" The frightened Luan struggled to say.

The family was shocked by Luan's words, while also disgusted by Ronaldo kissing her on the top of her head, and chuckling in a sinister manner, "That's my girl! Come on, let's get out of here!"

Ronaldo backed away with Luan in his grasp, still pointing his finger through his pocket like a gun at the family, who stood by helplessly, until their silence was broken by the sounds of sirens approaching from a distance.


	11. Who You Really Are

The sound of approaching sirens was growing louder and clearer, as everyone on the scene soon saw a squadron of police cars speeding up to their current location. Seeing the approaching flashes of red and blue lights, Ronaldo and Luan's grip grew tighter and tighter onto each other. The blaring sirens were quickly followed by the ear-piercing screech of tires squealing to a stop, as officers quickly hopped out of their cruisers, surrounding the pair, with their weapons drawn.

"STEP AWAY FROM THE GIRL, AND KEEP YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" Could be heard amidst the crowd of men in blue uniforms.

Luan latched onto Ronaldo tighter, and tighter, "YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM AWAY!"

Seeing he was surrounded by nearly an entire police force, guns drawn onto him, Ronaldo conceded that his master plan had been foiled - and by his own, single, crucial mistake, no less. Defeated, he sighed through his nose, gently pushing Luan away, and complying with the commands that were ordered to him, much to her astonishment.

"Wh-what are you doing?" She asked him.

"It's over," mumbled Ronaldo, raising his hands into the air, as the police moved on him to make their arrest.

Within minutes, Ronaldo was cuffed, and escorted to an awaiting patrol car, while another officer made sure everything was okay with the Loud family.

"Thank goodness you got here when you did," said Lynn, Sr., shaking the officer's hand with vigorously glee.

"Happy to serve," said the officer. "And, we're certainly relieved your daughter's finally been found, safe and sound."

Luan seemed awfully distressed. Unaware of just what she had endured while in Ronaldo's possession, the police assumed that she was just shaken up from the entire ordeal, and that going home with her family will fix her up good as new.

"We'll make out our report to the department signifying she's been found, and alert the media letting them know the search is being called off," another officer said.

"Not to worry; this scumbag will be going away for a long, long time," the first officer assured the family.

The family responded with words of appreciation and gratitude. "Thanks again," Lynn, Sr. said.

As the officers returned to their cruisers, Luan was frantic about the man who had convinced her that he was the only one in the world who cared about her was suddenly being taken away from her. "No! You can't take him away!"

From inside the back seat of one cruiser, Ronaldo glanced out at Luan, with a look of guilt written across his face. With that, the police drove away from the scene, though she ran out into the middle of the road, frantically trying to wave them down, only for them to continue driving off without taking any notice of her, "TAKE ME WITH HIM! TAKE ME! TAKE MEEEE!"

By this time, she was in a state of emotional distress as she watched the police disappear over the horizon. Given her hysterics, the family likewise assumed she was overwhelmed by the entire ordeal, as they watched her standing dejectedly in the middle of the road. As she stared helplessly into the sunset, Lynn, Sr. approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "He's gone now, honey. It's all over. Why don't we just go home, okay?"

Lynn, Sr. attempted to take Luan by the arm, only to have her pull it away in anger, "I'm not going anywhere with you!"

The Loud family was stunned by Luan's absolutely livid reaction.

"Honey, what's gotten into you?" Rita asked, very concerned.

"What is wrong with you people?!" Luan asked, in a very uncharacteristically aggressive manner. "How could you have Ronaldo arrested and taken away like that?!"

"We did it so we could save you, sweetie," said Lynn, Sr.

"He's gone now, he won't hurt you anymore," said Rita.

Luan snapped, "He wouldn't hurt me! He's the only one in the world who even cared about me!"

"But, we care about you, hon," said Lynn, Sr. "We love you, we're your family, we've come to take you home."

"What are you talking about?!" Luan asked.

The family was terribly confused by Luan's behavior: they could not fathom why she was so upset over her captor having been arrested and taken away, while also angry at her own family for having just saved her life - it made absolutely no sense to them at all. Lisa, however, seemed to have an understanding of what was going on: "Oh, dang. It would appear that our fourth-eldest sister has been indoctrinated with Stockholm Syndrome."

Leni gasped, "Wait a minute... Stockholm? I thought we lived in Royal Woods?"

The rest of the family resisted moaning, though Lisa offered up a simpler explanation: "Street name: brainwashed."

"Brainwashed?!" The rest of the family shrieked.

"Whoa, so, her brain's all squeaky clean now, huh?" Lana asked.

"Negatory," said Lisa. "Her brain has been psychologically reprogrammed into developing a sort of sympathetic and compassionate connection toward her captor, while also erasing the rest of us from her memory entirely."

The rest of the family had rather grim looks wash across their faces.

"You mean... Luan doesn't even know who we are?" Lincoln asked.

"I am afraid so..." croaked Lisa.

Most of the rest of the family began approaching Luan closer and closer, each of them, all at once, trying their best to prod her memory of who they are. Luan, on the other hand, had no idea what this large family's problem was, or why they were seemingly trying to suffocate her, as she kept inching away from them in confusion and panic.

"Who-who are you people? What do you want from me?" She asked. "Stay back! All of you! Don't come any closer, I mean it!"

The family stopped in their tracks, none of them knowing what to do about Luan, who just kept eyeballing all of them as if they were complete strangers, as not a single face looked familiar to her. There was, however, one particular Loud sibling who knew what to do; Lucy stepped forward, and offered up her hand, "Take my hand."

The sight of the creepy little goth girl offering up her hand was enough to make Luan recoil in fear, "No! Get away from me, you little ghoul!"

Lucy, however, was persistent, "I said... take... my... hand... Do it."

Luan hesitated; she knew not of the little goth girl's intentions, but with fear and trepidation, she took the girl's hand. The second she did that, Luan felt as though her hand was being sucked into the other girl's hand, as if they were being locked together tightly by an invisible force - even the rest of the family was confused as to what was happening. Luan began feeling some kind of strange force enter her body from Lucy's hand, "What are you doing to me?!"

"I want to show you who you really are," said Lucy.

Luan was finding it harder to blink - everytime her eyelids met, she struggled to open them again. Finally, her eyes remained shut.

"You are part of a family, Luan," said Lucy. "You are part of the Loud family, OUR family, and our family isn't the same without you... without you, there is no joy or laughter in our lives."

Thoughts and visions were being projected into Luan's mind - beyond her control. Although the moans, groans, and jeers were the family's usual response to her humor, there were occasions where they did bring about genuine laughter from them, which is what Lucy projected into her. Luan saw visions of times where she would learn a new joke, and then try it out on her various different family members to gauge their reaction to determine how funny the joke was; she saw visions of times where she and certain other siblings would actually plot to prank others together, all in the spirit of good fun; she saw visions of practicing ventriloquism with Mr. Coconuts, giving her family demonstrations, and their positive reactions of noting how much she was improving in not moving her lips; she even saw visions of moments where she would entertain her family with some of her other talents, like pantomime. Through it all, as Lucy said, it brought her family joy and laughter.

The sounds of her family's laughter continued to echo in the back of her mind as Lucy continued, "And that's not all. Although she has nine other older siblings, there is but one with whom she shares a special bond, and that one is you..."

The sounds of her family's laughter quickly crossfaded into sounds of Lily's laughter. Luan started seeing visions of times where she would bond with her baby sister, the two of them sharing laughter. It was always easy for Luan to get a laugh from Lily, and Lily loved it when Luan made her laugh - whether it was making funny faces with her Groucho Marx glasses, making silly noises from her throat, making balloon animals in a flash, or even just playing silly little games like peek-a-boo or hide-and-seek, laughter was the glue that bonded the two sisters together. Without any of this, Lily hardly laughed at all, and it was something she had been missing terribly.

A lone tear escaped Luan's eye; the rest of the family still had no clue as to what was going on, but they trusted Lucy was doing something to help. Luan gradually began to lose her strength; her knees began to buckle as she slowly began to sink to the ground below. She tried her hardest to open her misty eyes, but when she did manage to peel her eyelids apart just ever so slightly, Lucy's grip tightened, causing her eyelids to slam shut once more.

"Wait," said Lucy. "I'm not done. There's one more thing I need to show you. Something that's very, very important to me..."

Another vision was being projected into Luan's mind, this one far more specific. She saw the time Lucy hit a personal rock bottom: her best poem had been rejected by _The Transylvania Revue_, sending her into a state of creative depression, so Luan shared her own past rejection letters with her, showing that she overcame her rocky beginnings and eventually became a successful performer. She saw how taking Lucy under her wing, and mentoring her helped her sharpen her skills, develop a thicker skin for criticism, and how that, in turn, helped boost Lucy's confidence in her own potential and capabilities. She saw how overcome with jealously and resentment she was when Lucy was seemingly stealing her thunder by becoming the youngest person to perform at the Royal Woods Theater when she was invited to read in a poetry festival, and how upon learning this from Lincoln, Lucy feigns a sudden illness so as not to not rob her sister of her dreams after all she had done for her. She saw how letting jealousy get the better of her was not something a good mentor does, and encouraged Lucy to take advantage of the huge opportunity she had rightfully earned - the experience illustrating that each sister was willing to make a sacrifice to see to it that her other sister was happy.

Luan finally dropped to her knees, with even more tears spilling from her eyes. Much like Lisa, Lucy did not typically acknowledge human emotions, especially her own; the circumstances were different this time, and she knew she had to let her feelings be known: "I needed you, Luan, and you were there for me. Because we are sisters, and that's what sisters do - be there for each other in times of need. I look up to you, Luan... you are my mentor... you are my hero... you are my sister... and... I... l-l-l-l-love... you... I love you."

Finally, Lucy released Luan's hand, causing her to nearly fall face forward. After the emotional roller coaster she had just experienced from Lucy's astral projections, Luan struggled to regain her composure. Raising her head and opening her eyes, the tears made it nearly impossible for her to see clearly, and all that she could discern with her blurred vision was something small and black standing before her. She blinked a number of times to empty the tears out of her eyes, and with each blink she could see more clearly that standing before her was no unknown little goth girl, it was her little sister.

"Lu... Lu... Lu-cy?" Luan's weak voice quivered.

Lucy slowly smiled; Ronaldo's hypnotism may have successfully brainwashed Luan by erasing her family from her mind, but Lucy's magic had successfully reversed the brainwashing, allowing her to regain the memories of her family, while instead, erasing the memories she otherwise would have retained from the altered state that Ronaldo had hypnotized her into. As Luan managed to sit up a little straighter, Lucy uncharacteristically flew into her big sister's arms. The other family members called out to Luan as her eyes began clearing even more, allowing her to see them.

"Mom? Dad? Lori? Leni? Luna? Lynn? Lincoln? Lana? Lola? Lisa? Lily?" Luan asked, her emotions still running high.

The rest of the family ran over to Luan, each of them smothering her in warm embraces. If she never felt love from her family before, she certainly felt it now. She knew now that she really, truly, does belong. In a huge family of thirteen, there was, indeed, room for one more; there was room for her, and she did have a place in her family - a family that really did appreciate her corny jokes, lame puns, elaborate pranks, and passion for performing... even more than they ever let on. There was not a single dry eye in the familial group hug, as they were all overjoyed at having Luan back in their lives. They stood in the middle of the empty road huddled together in their family hug, even as the sun finished setting into the horizon, and the street lights began to flicker on to illuminate the dusky twilight.

* * *

Lori, Leni, and Luna were on the couch again, watching one of the special elimination shows of the season, each of them watching in anticipation to see if their respective favorite singers will either get to stay for another couple of weeks, or be voted off. Their eyes affixed to the screen, none of them were aware of anything else in their surroundings, providing the perfect opportunity for a jumpscare. Just as the judges finished tabulating the scores, and were announcing who would be eliminated from this week's show:

"BLOOOOOOOOD!" Luan and Lucy yelled as they popped out from behind the couch, both of them with streams of fake blood dripping down their faces, and fake vampire teeth in their mouths.

The three older sister screamed, falling off the couch, with Lori and Leni falling onto the coffee table, and Luna falling over the arm rest and onto the floor. Luan flew into her typical fit of wild laughter, while Lucy uttered far more subdued and resigned 'Ha-ha's in her usual deadpan monotone.

"LUAN!" The three older sisters shrieked.

"Really, Lucy?" Lori snapped, placing her fists onto her hips, "I wouldn't have expected something like this from you, of all people!"

Luan and Lucy casually slipped out of the living room, each still laughing in their own respective manners.

"Those Halloween left-overs really come in handy, Luce!" Luan said, as she rubbed the top of her little sister's jet black hair.

"Goth perks," was Lucy's simple response, as she followed her big sister up the stairs.

Luna managed to finally catch her breath, after all of it nearly escaped her lungs in the jumpscare, "You know... you have to admit... that was a good one..."

Lori and Leni glanced at each other before revealing small smiles, both of them even having a snicker over it. "Yeah, it totally was..." admitted Leni, in spite of all the times Luan has pulled similar, yet simpler scare pranks on her.

"Yeah... it's so good to have Luan back," agreed Lori.

Once back upstairs, Lucy brought Luan into her bedroom, "While you were gone, I wrote a new poem. Would you like to hear it?"

"Of course I would," said Luan, taking the fake vampire teeth out of her mouth.

Lucy slipped a piece of paper out from under her pillow, and began to recite the words she had written on it:

_Without her, a part of me is lost,_  
_It feels like a flower bitten with frost,_  
_I have fallen into a well of despair,_  
_And there is but one way to be repaired,_  
_It seems she has vanished into the mist,_  
_Finding her is my hope and wish,_  
_Whenever she's found, today or tomorrow,_  
_Life will be filled with laughter, not sorrow_

Lucy lowered the piece of paper to see her big sister had tears mingling with the fake blood running down her cheeks. Sometimes, it was still hard for the usually cheerful and optimistic comedienne to believe that her usually reserved and withdrawn goth sister had managed to connect with her, out of all of the siblings in the Loud House, despite their differing demeanors and dispositions. For Luan, it really made her feel like a big sister to have one of her younger siblings look up to her as a role model, and see her as more than a silly clown; for Lucy, it made her feel like she had somebody in the family who was not at all afraid of her simply because of her gothic lifestyle, and see just what a creative and poetic soul she really is.

"Do you like it?" Lucy asked.

Luan scooped up Lucy, hugging her close to her chest, as she continued to weep, "I love it. It's your best one yet. I'm so proud of you."

Lucy once again slowly smiled; despite her personal hatred for hugs, and other similar forms of physical contact, she shared in her sister's embrace as she wrapped not only her arms, but also her legs around Luan's body, solidifying their special bond with one another.

* * *

Bedtime had come, and after having her turn in the bathroom, Luan returned to her bedroom, clad in her yellow flannel pajamas, "Well, nighty-night, Luni-Tune."

Before Luan could turn her covers back, Luna threw herself around her sister, embracing her tightly, "I'm so sorry, dude... I'm sorry I wasn't a better sis to you..."

"What do you mean?" Luan asked.

Luna pulled away, "I could tell you were in a funk that night... I didn't think much about it at the time, but if I had known... you could've talked to me about it... then maybe you wouldn't have..."

Luna could not finish her sentence, while Luan also shifted her eyes to the side, "Well... I guess it doesn't really matter now... does it?"

"No, it really does," insisted Luna, as she placed her hand on Luan's shoulder. "I know I've sung I can't live with you... but really, I can't live WITHOUT you... nothin' felt worse than what it felt like to lose you..."

Luan was stunned by hearing this. She knew she and Luna were so close growing up, but it was also clear to her they had been drifting apart as they grew older - it was something that, deep down, she was unhappy about; unbeknownst to her, the feeling was mutual.

"Look, dude... I want you to hear me out: no matter what happens... no matter what makes you blue... you can come to me... you can talk to me... cause I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU, dude..."

Luan smiled, as she placed her hands on Luna's hand on her shoulder, "I know that now... dude..."

That face. That face, with the big, dorky, braced smile that Luna loved so much brought tears to her eyes, as they pulled each other into another embrace, this one even stronger and more intimate than any they had shared before. They held onto each other for several moments, both of them vowing to never again let their life-long close and tight bond falter over petty sibling squabbles or bickering.

"I don't wanna ever lose you again," said Luna, softly.

"Maybe we should chain ourselves together," Luan jokingly suggested.

"What, and be a chain of fools?" Luna asked, sharing a laugh with her sister, as they hugged even tighter.

"Poo-poooooooooooooooo!" Lily squealed, as she scurried into the room.

"There's our baby girl!" Luan cheerfully exclaimed, scooping up her baby sister, and hugging her tightly, while Lily began showering her funny sister with slobbery kisses, much to the older girls' delight as they both snuggled her dearly.

If the sounds of Luna practicing on her drums or guitars while flipping through her joke books was an ASMR existence for Luan, Luan's silly snoring and sleep-joking was an ASMR existence for Luna - for the first time in a week, she was finally able to sleep peacefully, knowing that her favorite sister was home where she belongs.


	12. Epilogue

**A/N: It's been brought to my attention by a couple of reviewers that Benny's subplot was not resolved... that's one on me. Actually, I confess that everything in the previous chapter that happened after Lori says it's good to have Luan back was added literally at the last minute before being published so as to tie up the loose ends with Lucy, Luna, and Lily... so, there really is no excuse for me to have left Benny out - especially since his involvement played a big factor in Luan running away in the first place. To make up for it, here's a brief little epilogue that should be the final nail in the coffin for this story (heh, I'm sure Lucy would appreciate that analogy).**

* * *

Returning to Royal Woods High the following Monday was quite an experience for Luan - it actually felt a tad awkward having her teachers -and even some of her fellow classmates- make such a fuss over her return, but if anything, it served as a realization that more people actually cared about her than she may have previously thought. Of course, she would have to make up for the time she lost in each of her classes, but that was merely a formality, considering the important thing was that she was alive and well. The icing on the cake for her would be when she stayed after school that afternoon, where her return elicited some very interesting responses from drama class.

"GADZOOKS! LUAAANNNN! Is it RRRRRREALLY YOOOOUUUU?!" Mrs. Bernardo asked, clutching Luan's face like Hamlet holding Yorick's skull.

"Yuh... iss me, Mrs. B..." mumbled Luan through her mashed face and mushed mouth.

"Oh, Luaaannnn, this is a miracle! A MIRRRRRACLLLEEEE!" Mrs. Bernardo exclaimed. "With your tri-UMPHANT returnnn, our play may be saved after alllll!"

At that moment, Luan's understudy who had been roped in to fill in for her role as the kingdom's court jester stepped over, while wearing the felt jester's hat.

"So, since Luan's back, does this mean I don't have to do this anymore?" The drama student asked.

"Yes, yes, you are relieved of your duty," said Mrs. Bernardo.

"Great," said the student, ripping the hat from his head. "I felt like such a fool doing this."

This left Luan with a rather dumbfounded look on her face, before Mrs. Bernardo resumed her conversation with one of her star pupils, "Luan, I don't suppose you remember much of what you have already rehearsed, do you?"

Luan rubbed the back of her head bashfully, "I guess not..."

Mrs. Bernardo happily sighed, "As long as you're back with us, that's all that matters. I'll tell you what: we won't rehearse any of your scenes today, so you can have time to familiarize yourself with your role a-GAIN!"

"Thanks, Mrs. B," said Luan.

As Mrs. Bernardo moved onto some of her other students, Juney approached Luan. "Luan! You're back! That's so wonderful!"

Luan was stunned when Juney hugged her, as she curiously returned the gesture to the girl she hardly knew, "Yeah... thanks, Juney..."

Juney pulled out of the hug, "We were so worried about you!"

"You were?" Luan asked. "Wait... 'we'?"

"Yeah, we were so devastated when we learned that you were missing," said Juney. "When Mrs. Bernardo told us about it, I thought Benny was going to die!"

"Really?" Luan asked, looking very concerned.

"Come on!" Juney took Luan by the hand, and ran across to the other side of the stage with her, where Benny sat in a metal folding chair, paper crown on his head, and script in hand, as he sadly tried reading over his lines. "Benny, look who's back!"

Benny looked up and saw the familiar braced face look down upon him, "Luan?!"

"Hey, Benny..." said Luan with a weak wave.

Benny's mouth hung open for a brief moment before his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell out of his chair in a fainting spell, much to Luan and Juney's shock.

"Wow! I haven't seen somebody faint like that since the first time my little sister, Lucy, tried making a batch of homemade blood... boy, you talk about a BLOODY MESS!" Luan said with a chuckle.

Juney eyeballed Luan, still not quite accustomed to her sense of humor, and finding the joke to be in questionable taste. The two girls knelt down beside Benny, both of them trying to wake him up, repeatedly calling out his name. Gradually, Benny regained consciousness, as he looked up at Luan once more.

"Luan...? Luan? Luan! You're back!" Benny exclaimed, as he managed to sit up, and throw his arms around her. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Well... here I am..." Luan said, unable to think of any other way to respond to Benny's reaction.

The moment was incredibly surreal for Luan; Benny was hugging her so tightly, it felt akin to the hugs she had shared with Luna over the years, or even the way Lucy was hugging her the other night. Looking up at Juney, she was struck by the smile she had on her face: it was a smile she had seen before - much like the way Lori and Leni smiled when Luna had her first date with Sam. Benny pulled away from Luan for a moment, as they locked eyes with each other... Luan could swear it looked like his eyes were actually swimming. He did not say another word, he just hugged her once again, his embrace even stronger and tighter than his previous one; Luan returned the embrace, hugging Benny with as much strength as she could possibly muster. Looking up at Juney once more, her smile grew as she parted the two with a wink, and went off to study her own lines. Luan decided not to question anything... she just enjoyed sharing a loving, passionate embrace with Benny - an embrace that almost seemed to non-verbally communicate that connection that Luan thought she had misjudged between the two of them was there all along; an embrace that felt very much like a young gentleman protecting his lady. Now, it was Luan's eyes that were swimming.

"I don't want to ever lose you again," said Benny with a choked-up voice.

There it was again: the exact same thing Luna said to her the other night. Luan's heart was absolutely swelling at this point; she IS loved; she IS wanted; she IS needed.

"Get a room!" One drama student heckled when walking by the pair, startling them into breaking away from their hug.

Luan and Benny exchanged red-faced looks with each other, before succumbing to a fit of uncontrollable, tear-inducing giggles for the next several moments. Lost in their own little world, it was just the two of them, sitting on the stage floor, giggling and crying, crying and giggling; nothing else mattered to the two of them at that moment other than being in the presence of each other's company.

* * *

**A/N: I would like to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been following, reading, and reviewing _The Missing Loud_, I really appreciate it! Considering this was not only my first attempt at writing _Loud House_ fanfiction, but also writing about a particularly polarizing Loud sibling, I'm absolutely floored by how well it was received, and the response it's gotten; it's very rewarding, and I thank all of you for your nice reviews, comments, and yes, even the constructive criticism.**

**With that said, I'm going to address the one element of this fanfiction story that has stirred everybody up the most... yes, I'm speaking of the rape scene. Honestly, I KNEW this was going to be extremely controversial, and as such, I actually debated whether I should include it at all... maybe it might have been better to just leave it up to your imaginations, or, alternatively, I could have just have Ronaldo mention Luan was the daughter he always wanted but never had, and just left it that - it would have been just as creepy, but it probably would have been a lot less uncomfortable. However, as certain reviewers have figured and pointed out, yes, I also felt like the inclusion of it helped further illustrate just what a vile and disgusting dirtbag Ronaldo was, that he wanted complete control over Luan, just so he could have SOMETHING in his life go the way he wanted; the sad reality is people like Ronaldo exist in our world, and they do prey on children like this. At the same time, as certain reviewers also pointed out, yes, I felt like by having Ronaldo hypnotize Luan so he could coerce her into his fantasy, while also writing implications, innuendos, and symbolism, it was the LEAST offensive way I could write the scene... doesn't make it less wrong, less disturbing, or less uncomfortable, but as pointed out, there really is a lot worse stuff out there... many authors out there would have gone into as much graphic and explicit details as they could just for the sake of shocking readers... believe you me, I've read some stuff over the years that left ME feeling like I needed therapy afterwards - this is actually why I've been out of the fanfiction game for many years: so many fanfiction communities end up being taken over by such shock authors, that it ends up driving decent authors out of the communities altogether. Luckily, it looks like the _Loud House_ fanfiction community doesn't tolerate such shock authors very much.**

**I would also like to address how a number of reviewers have mentioned Luan needing serious therapy after all the psychological trauma Ronaldo has put her through. Even though I've actually written the chapters in advance (I often end up editing, re-writing, and/or revising them several times before I'm 100% happy enough to publish them), I suppose in hindsight, the idea of Lucy using her magic to reverse Ronaldo's hypnotic brainwashing may have been a cop out... it was really the only way I could think to have Luan be brought back to her normal self (that, and, admittedly, it was also my way of tossing in a little bonding between the two of them, as they're my personal favorite Loud sisters). I agree that Luan going through therapy and counceling would be far more realistic, though I feel like I've already put her through enough in this story, and it was time for it to have a happy ending... however, I think I may take initiative from Parent12D, and make an offer to the rest of you, if you'd like to do your own follow up where Luan does receive therapy, or perhaps even an AU where the family has to figure another way to bring Luan back to normal, then by all means, give it a shot... after all, there's more than one way to tell a story, and who is to say one way is the right way?**

**In closing, I would just like to thank all of you once again for the tremendous repsonse to my first _Loud House_ fanfiction story, and for all of your wonderful reviews - with a special mention to DreadedCandiru2, I especially enjoyed reading your genre-savvy comments and remarks after each chapter had been published. And, hey, Tristen, how's your Uncle Eddie doing? If you guys have anything other points, comments, questions, or anything you'd like to discuss about this, by all means, feel free to reach out to me in a PM or something... heck, maybe we'll even do a little AMA thing on my profile, who knows? Thanks again! Hope you'll stick around for my other upcoming stories!**


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